HISTORY 101: WESTERN CIVILIZATION TO 1500
A WORKBOOK
Spring 2004
David MacDonald
Illinois State University
1
The simple but difficult arts of paying attention, copying accurately, following an
argument, detecting an ambiguity or false inference, testing guesses by summoning up
contrary instances, organizing one's time and one's thought for study--all these
arts...cannot be taught in the air but only through the difficulties of a defined subject; they
cannot be taught in one course or one year, but must be acquired gradually in dozens of
connections. The analogy to athletics must be pressed until all recognized that in the
exercise of intellect those who lack the muscles, coordination, and will power can claim no
place at the training table, let alone on the playing field.
Jacques Barzun
The House of Intellect
If you knew your history, you'd know where you're coming from.
Bob Marley
Buffalo Soldier
What liberates is the knowledge of who we were, what we have become, where we
were, whereinto we have been cast, whither we hasten, whence we are redeemed, what
birth is and what rebirth.
Valentinian the Heresiarch
Exc. Theod. 78.2.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE:
A. PURPOSE OF THE COURSE
B. MUTUAL COMMITMENT AND LEARNING
C. BOOKS
D. ASSIGNED WORK AND GRADES
E. EXAMS AND BOOK QUIZZES
1. Form
2. Grades
3. Missed Exams
4. Paper Required in the Case of Poor Grades
F. PAPERS
1. Introduction
2. English Requirements and Grading
3. Content Requirements and Grading
4. Topics for First Paper
5. Topics for Second Paper
G. A SHORT PRACTICAL GUIDE TO ENGLISH
1. BASICS
2. REQUIREMENTS OF FORMAL ENGLISH
3. STYLE
H. NO EXTRA CREDIT
I. SEMESTER CALENDAR SPRING 1996
J. INCOMPLETES
K. CHANGING FINAL EXAM TIMES
L. HOW TO APPROACH A TEXTBOOK RATIONALLY
SECTION I:
UNIT I: PREHISTORY AND THE PRIMARY CIVILIZATIONS
UNIT II: EMPIRES OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
UNIT III: EARLY AND CLASSICAL GREECE
UNIT IV: HELLENISTIC DIFFUSION
SAMPLE EXAM FOR SECTION I
SECTION II:
UNIT V: THE RISE OF ROME
UNIT VI: PAX ROMANA
UNIT VII: THE MAKING OF EUROPE
UNIT VIII: THE CAROLINGIAN WORLD
SAMPLE EXAM FOR SECTION II
SECTION III:
UNIT IX: REVIVAL, RECOVERY, AND REFORM
UNIT X: LIFE IN CHRISTIAN EUROPE IN THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES
UNIT XI: GOVERNMENT, LEARNING, AND ART IN THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES
UNIT XII: THE CRISIS OF THE LATER MIDDLE AGES
UNIT XIII: RENAISSANCE
SAMPLE EXAM FOR SECTION III
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
A. PURPOSE OF THE COURSE
This course is designed to fulfill two purposes. First, it is one of many components
of a program dedicated to turning you into an educated person. The contribution that his
and other courses are supposed to make to that end is well explained in the quotation from
the noted educator Jacques Barzun on the preceding page. Please read it. More
specifically, the course is designed to trace western civilization from its origins in the fourth
millennium B.C. until the dawn of the modern era, around A.D. 1500, or, in other words, to
show you how the culture in which you participate developed in the dimension of time.
Time is a dimension, as real as the three physical dimensions with which you are more
accustomed to deal, and just as growing-up meant learning to handle yourself in the
physical world of three dimensions-- first your yard, then the neighborhood, and now the
world--so also achieving intellectual maturity involves finding where you and your culture
fit in the dimension of time. So, welcome to a guided trip through some fifty centuries of
your past.
B. MUTUAL COMMITMENT AND LEARNING
Mutual commitment is required from both teacher and student to make a course
worthwhile. I commit myself to do my best to present the course material to you in an
organized, comprehensible manner that will both make its significance apparent and show
you how really interesting it is. In turn, I have the right to expect you to commit yourself to
work to learn the material; the meaning and interest will never become apparent until you
learn the basic facts, and you cannot expect to learn anything meaningful unless you follow
a vigorous, rational, organized plan of study.
Do not just drift through this or any other course. Realize at the beginning that you
are supposed to work in your courses, draw up a work schedule, and stick to it. Unless you
make some such definite commitment to yourself, to this course, and to your other courses,
you will get little out of your stay at Illinois State University.
If a student does poorly on a test in this course, I have the student do a short paper
to let me know what went wrong. I have been impressed by the honesty of students. A few
papers have criticized aspects of my presentation of the course, and I have sought to
improve those aspects. The great majority of papers attribute problems in this course to
two basic causes:
1. Insufficient effort. This includes poor class attendance,
failure to read and study regularly and the belief that the
material can be mastered just by cramming shortly before the test.
Do not fool yourself into believing that you can do nothing for weeks and then learn the
material by starting to study just a week or two before a test.
The material in this course requires constant study over the entire semester of sixteen
weeks. If it could be learned adequately in less time, I would teach the class in less time!
2. Self delusion. This manifests itself in the belief that a
student need not work seriously because the student has always
been good in history or that it is no use to work seriously because
the student has always been poor in history.
It is a simple fact that this is not a particularly difficult course. No one needs to have
special talents to do well in this course. The material is not hard to understand and the
work load is not very heavy. We do survey a lot of material, and you will encounter a lot of
names that will be unfamiliar to you at first. You have to go over the material repeatedly
during the full time available so that the material will become familiar to you and the
concepts will make sense.
C. BOOKS
McKay, Hill, Buckler, A History of Western Society, Vol. A (Not I) 4th ed.
N.K. Sandars, trans., The Epic of Gilgamesh.
M. & F. Gies, Life in a Medieval Village.
For specific reading assignments in these books, see below Semester Calendar.
D. ASSIGNED WORK AND GRADES
I will assign your course grade on the basis of your performance on three examinations
and two papers. Each exam and paper will weigh the same in calculating the final grade.
E. EXAMS
1. Format
The first examination will cover just Workbook Units I-IV. This material will probably
be largely new to you. I urge you start reading and studying it immediately. The second
examination will cover Workbook Units V-VIII; the third will cover Workbook Units IX-XIII.
All exams will have the same format. First, there will be a map, worth 20% of the
exam grade, that everyone must do. The places you will be asked to locate are all included
on the maps in this study guide. Next, there will be in four sections: two sections of
multiple-choice questions, one section of short-answer essays, and one section of
long-answer essays. You will be asked to do any two of these four sections. Each section
that you do will count 40% of the exam. You will have the entire examination in front of
you, so you may look over all
sections before making your decision. Thus, you may chose to do both multiple choice
sections, one multiple-choice section and one essay section, or two essay sections. If you
should do more than two sections, indicate which two you wish to count; if you do not so
indicate, I shall count the first two you did. I shall not correct more than two sections and
give you the best two; that makes no more sense than correcting more than two and giving
you the worst two. The questions in all four sections will be derived from this workbook.
2. Grades
Exam grades will be handed out as soon as they have been recorded. If you miss
class the day tests are handed back, get your test at my office as soon as possible--you
may have to write a paper if you have done poorly (see below Papers Required In the Case
of Poor Grades), and that is due one week after I return exams, whether you have been in
class to get the exam or not.
I encourage you to come to my office to go over an exam, check your answers, ask
questions, express disagreements. Do this soon after the exam. It serves no purpose to
wait until the semester is virtually over before coming to discuss a problem.
3. Missed Exams
If you miss an exam but can make up the exam before I return the corrected papers,
you may take the regular exam. If you cannot, the make up exam will be scheduled at my
convenience and may be all essay.
4. Paper Required In the Case of Poor Grades
A student who has done poorly in part of the course is unlikely to do well later in the
rest of the course unless the student is able to understand why the student did poorly and
plan how to do better. The paper requirement described below is designed to help the
student who has done poorly on an exam.
Any student receiving a grade of D or F on an exam is required to write a paper. The
paper will be typed, double-spaced with one-inch margins, and written in correct English.
The paper will cover the following material:
1. Why did the student receive the low grade? This analysis must be at least one page in
length.
2. What course of action will the student take to remedy the problem? This analysis must
be at least one page in length.
This paper is due at the beginning of class one week after the exams are returned.
This date is firm whether the student is in class the day the exams are returned or not. NO
extra credit will be added to the student's grade for this assignment. This paper is not a
punishment, but rather is designed to encourage the student who is having trouble to
analyze the situation and make a positive adjustment. If this paper is poorly prepared, the
student will be required to rewrite it. None of the student's subsequent work will be graded
until this paper is turned in. If the student does not turn in this required paper, the student
will receive an F for the course regardless of other grades in the course.
F. PAPERS
1. Introduction
Pay very close attention to this section.
Writing is important; it is thought made visible and permanent. Good writing is linked
to clear thinking. Writing is an active pursuit. You must impose form on sentences and
paragraphs and shape individual ideas into a comprehensible whole. Through good writing
you improve your understanding of the particular topic and you learn to order, test,
re-examine, and improve your thinking in general. Good writing communicates thoughts
efficiently and clearly; poor writing fails to communicate well. There is no such thing as a
paper which has good content but is poorly written!
In our society the single ability that most clearly marks a person as well-educated is
the ability to write correct English. It does not matter what other skills you acquire at a
university; if you cannot express yourself clearly and in correct English, you will be judged
as uneducated. People see poor writing as indicating the writer is either ignorant or
careless. No one bothers with an ignorant writer, and a careless writer shows disrespect
for the reader, for the subject, and ultimately even a lack of self-respect of the writer.
This class is not designed primarily to develop your skills in writing. You should already
have basic writing skills, and you should be developing more advanced skills in all your
classes, including this one. Included in this study guide is "A Short Practical Guide to
English." Pay close attention to it. Any student ought to be able to produce a paper written
in acceptable English if the student will edit the paper carefully with regard to this study
guide. You should also have and use regularly a writer's guide to English; many are
available in the bookstores and the library.
Your papers must be written in correct, formal English and completely checked for
correct grammar and spelling. Anything less is not acceptable for university work. The key
to good writing is editing and re-writing. A first draft is not a finished paper. A decent
paper should be edited and re-written at least three times.
When your paper is returned, read the corrections and remarks carefully. They are
designed to help you avoid making the same errors over again. That is the whole point of
the papers.
2.Turning In Papers
Papers should be turned in when due. Organize your time and effort now to avoid
late papers. Do not wait until the last minute. If you do, you will inevitably not enough time
to edit your writing properly and you put yourself at the mercy of the inevitably problems
which crop up at the last minute. Computer failure is not a good excuse for a late paper.
Make back-ups on separate disks stored separately at all stages of your writing.
Papers submitted late will be accepted, but will receive grades a full letter grade
lower for each week late. The course is an integrated whole; if work is not done at the
appropriate time it cannot contribute fully to the learning experience. Failure to turn in a
paper will result in an F in the class, without exception.
When papers are turned in, I checked them off against the class list, place them in a
secured box, only remove them when I graded them, and I record the immediately after
reading the papers. Consequently, if there is any dispute about whether a paper has been
turned in or not, the burden of proof is upon the student. You are required to keep copies
of all papers, so that if a paper is somehow lost you can readily supply another copy. Turn
in papers only directly to me in class. Do not put them under my door or turn them in to
the history department office.
3. Requirements and Grading: Content and English
Your paper will be graded on the bases of content and English according to the
following standards:
A: The content of the paper examines the topic fully, summarizes and draws
generalizations from the material from the book and exhibits independent thought and
analysis. The paper is clearly written and well
expressed in formal English as outlined in "A Short Practical Guide to English." There are
no substantial errors in grammar or spelling.
B: The paper examines the topic fully but exhibits less clear ability to draw
generalizations from the material and less independent analysis than an A paper. The paper
is well written in formal English as outlined in "A Short Practical Guide to English." There
may be minor awkward phrasing or minor grammar problems.
C: The paper summarizes the material in the book rather than analyzes it
independently. The paper is generally well written but there are significant awkward or
unclear phrases or problems with grammar or spelling.
D: The paper contains substantial errors, fails to examine the whole topic, or
examines the topic vaguely or superficially. The paper exhibits major problems with
grammar or awkward and unclear writing to the extent that it interfers with clear
communication.
F: The paper that makes little or no sense, grossly fails to communicate, or does not
fulfill the assignment. The paper exhibits grossly defective grammar and fails to
communicate clearly.
4. Topics for First Paper
For the due-date for the first paper, see the semester schedule. Write your paper on
one of the following topics, all relevant to The Epic of Gilgamesh. At the beginning of the
paper, be sure to tell me which question you are answering.
1. Examine the following four women in the epic: woman who introduces Enkidu to
civilization, the goddess Ishtar, the tavern keeper Siduri, and the wife of Utnapishtim. What
generalizations about Mesopotamian attitudes towards women can you make from these
examples?
2. Why does Utnapishtim tell Gilgamesh the long, complicated story about the Flood. What
does Utnapishtim's story have to do with Gilgamesh's quest for immortality?
3. Gilgamesh certainly did not achieve immortality, but most readers see that Gilgamesh did
achieve some resolution of his problem and some satisfaction by the end of the epic. What
accounts for this?
4. Gilgamesh goes through several stages of character development in the course of the
epic. Trace and describe these stages and show what causes him to move to the new
stages.
5. Topics for Second Paper
For the due-date for the scond paper, see the semester schedule. Write your paper
on one of the following topics, all relevant to Life in a Medieval City. Be sure to tell me
which question you are answering.
1. Consider the Jews of Troyes. What roles do they fulfill? What is their status in medieval
society?
2. Consider the women in Troyes. What roles do they fulfill? What is their status in
medieval society? Do the descriptions of women's roles and status as given in the book
seem consistent? If not, what accounts for the inconsistencies?
3. Describe medieval education for both young men and women. Include both academic and
vocational education.
4. What roles did guilds fulfill in medieval Troyes? Why were they important to the
community?
5. What was the economic importance of fairs to Troyes and other similar medieval cities?
G. A Short Practical Guide to English
1. Basics
1. Papers must be typewritten, double-spaced, and between three and five pages in length,
not counting the title page. Provide a title page with your name, the name of the course, the
date, and the topic of the paper. Pages should be numbered, beginning with the first page of
the text, and should be stapled in the upper left corner. Papers should not be bound in
notebook or folder. I do not accept loose pages.
2. Check both spelling and the meaning of all unfamiliar words in a dictionary.
3. Use complete sentences.
4. Subjects and verbs must agree in number.
5. Avoid choppy, simplistic sentences. Good writing must be clearly expressed, but oversimplified language does not communicate effectively.
6. A paragraph should have consciously designed structure. The first sentence should
announce the topic of the paragraph. Subsequent sentences should develop aspects of the
topic. The final sentence ought to reach
some conclusion or provide some sort of summary, concluding the topic and preparing the
reader to move on to the next logical topic.
7. Capitalize proper nouns.
8. The possessive of singular nouns, even those ending in "s," is formed by adding an
apostrophe and s, e.g. "boy's." The only exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper
names ending in "es" and "is," e.g. "Euripides'", and the possessive "Jesus'." Plurals ending
in s form the possessive by adding an apostrophe, e.g. "boys'."
9. Pronouns must agree in number and person in their antecedents.
10. Quotations are normally introduced by a comma or colon, and quotation marks are
placed to contain other marks of punctuation.
11. "Who" and "whom" refer to people; "that" and "which" to inanimate objects.
12. "Who" is used for subjects and predicate nominatives of sentences; "whom" is used for
indirect objects, direct objects, and objects of prepositions.
13. "Its" is the possessive of "it;" "it's" is a contraction of "it is" and has no place in formal
English.
14. "Their" is a possessive; "there" is an adverb; "they're" is a contraction of "they are" and
has no place in formal English.
15. The names of books and plays are underlined.
16. "However" can never be used to link two otherwise independent sentences. It is poor
style to begin a sentence with "however." Write, "Bill stayed. Frank, however, left
immediately," but not "Bill stayed, however, Frank left immediately" or "Bill stayed.
However, Frank left immediately."
17. Use a comma with a conjunction to join two separate clauses, e.g. "He did it, but he did
not admit it." A comma alone cannot join two separate clauses; it is wrong to write, "He did
it, he did not admit it."
18. A semi-colon without a conjunction joins two separate clauses, e.g. "He did it; he did not
admit it."
19. "Then" refers to time: "I went to the bank first, then I went to the store." "Than"
introduces a comparison: "Your car is bigger than mine." Observe the difference.
2. Requirements of Formal English
20. Do not split infinitives in formal English. It is correct to write "to walk slowly," but "to
slowly walk" is wrong.
21. Do not use contractions ("don't, can't," etc.) in formal English.
22. An introductory subordinate clause is followed by a comma, e.g. "When she was young,
she had red hair." A concluding subordinate clause is not followed by a comma, e.g. "She
had red hair because she had dyed it."
23. "Because" introduces a concluding subordinate clause; it cannot correctly begin a
sentence.
24. Do not end a sentence or a clause with a dangling preposition, e.g. "He did not know
where she went to" is wrong.
3. Style
25. In general, use the past tense to describe events which occurred in the past. Do not
jump back and forth between different tenses without reason.
26. Express yourself in your own words. If you copy a passage from another writer's work,
you must give proper credit.
27. Quotations less than five typed lines in length should be in quotation marks. Quotations
more than five typed lines in length should be indented five spaces and single spaced,
without quotation marks. Do not quote extensively in short papers; summarize in your own
words.
28. "Quote" is a verb; "quotation" is a noun. Observe the difference.
29. Be neat. Clean clogged typefaces. Use "Whiteout" or complete erasing to correct
errors. Do not print over errors. If a ribbon in a typewriter or printer is faint and hard to
read, either replace it with a fresh ribbon or print on "bold" to make the print sufficiently
dark.
30. Use proper margins: 1 1/2" at the left, 1" at the right; 1-1 1/2" at top and bottom. Also,
use standard size types, 10 or 12 point.
H. SEMESTER CALENDAR Spring 2004
Week Day
Remarks
1 M-Jan. 12 Introduction; Prehistory I
W- " 14 The Primary Civilization of Mesopotamia and Egypt
F- " 16 Gilgamesh Epic
Readings: McKay Chapter 1. The Epic of Gilgamesh.
2 M- " 19 MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY
W- " 21 Material culture of the ancient Near East.
F- " 23 First Age of Empires.
Readings: McKay Chapter 2. The Epic of Gilgamesh.
3 M- " 26 Second Age of Empires.
W- " 28 Greece in the Dark and Lyric Ages.
F- " 30 Early Greek Literature and Philosophy.
Readings: McKay Chapter 1-2.
4 M-Feb. 2 Early Sparta and Athens. The Epic of Gilgamesh paper due.
W- " 4 Greece c. 500-360 B.C.
F- " 6 Athenian culture.
Readings: McKay Chapter 3.
5 M- " 9 Philip and Alexander.
W- " 11 Hellenistic World.
F- " 13 Review.
Readings: McKay Chapter 3.
6 M- " 16 Exam I covering Chapters I-IV, lectures.
W- " 18 Early Rome.
F- " 20 Roman Expansion.
Readings: McKay Chapter 4.
7 M- " 23 Fall of the Roman Republic.
W- " 25 The Principate.
F- " 27 Roman Imperial Art and Architecture.
Readings: McKay Chapters 4 and 5.
8 M-March 1 The Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire.
W- " 3 Late Roman Empire.
F- " 5 Barbarians and the Fall of the Roman Empire.
Readings: McKay Chapter 5 and 6.
9 M- " 8 Spring Vacation
W- " 10 Spring vacation
F- " 12 Spring Vacation
10 M- " 15 Byzantium and Islam.
W- " 17 The Franks Through Charlemagne.
F- " 19 Vikings and Magyars.
Readings: McKay Chapter 7 and 8
11 M- " 22 Rise of Feudalism
W- " 24 Review.
F- " 26 Exam II covering Chapters V-VIII, lectures.
Readings: McKay Chapter 9.
12 M- " 29 German Feudalism and the Investiture Controversy.
W- " 31 English Feudalism.
F-April 2 The Crusades and Feudalism.
Readings: McKay Chapter 10. A Medieval Life.
13 M- " 5 Medieval Society.
W- " 7 Romanesque and Gothic Styles.
F- " 9 The Medieval Church, 1100-1300.
Readings: McKay Chapters 11. A Medieval Life.
14 M- " 12 Medieval Towns and Universities.
W14 Medieval Intellectual Life.
F- " 16 Castles and Cathedrals.
Readings: McKay Chapter 12.
15 M- " 18 The Fourteenth Century. A Medieval Life paper due.
W- " 21 Chivalry and the Late Medieval Nobility
F- " 23 The Renaissance.
Readings: McKay Chapter 13.
16 M- " 26 Renaissance Art and Architecture.
W- " 28 Review.
F- " 30 Study day.
Readings: Review.
FINAL EXAM: Exam III covering Chapters IX-XIII, lectures: Monday, 3 May, 7:50 am.
I. No Extra credit
There is no extra credit work available for this course, which deals with basic material that
must be mastered before any work which could be considered "extra" is undertaken. If that
material is mastered, the student will have no need for any extra credit.
J. INCOMPLETES
An incomplete is given to a student who is doing passing work but finds it
impossible to complete course work by the end of the semester because of a legitimate
problem, such as illness. The student must have been in class to within three weeks of the
close of the semester.
K. CHANGING FINAL EXAM TIMES
All final exams will be given at the scheduled final examination times. According to
University Policy, a student who has more than three final examinations in a single day has
the option, with a professor's approval, of
rescheduling one of those examinations. I shall endeavor to cooperate with anyone in this
situation, but I have a tight and complicated final schedule this semester, so it may not be
possible. If you want to change your final exam time, approach me at least a full week
before the beginning of finals. I cannot arrange matters at the last minute.
L. HOW TO APPROACH A TEXTBOOK RATIONALLY
Writing is not all meant to be read the same way. A detective novel and a technical
manual have different purposes, and each requires a different technique to read it
efficiently. A textbook is neither a who-done-it nor a how-to-do-it book, and it requires a
different approach. It is the purpose of a textbook to
teach a large amount of material in an organized fashion and to explain the meaning and
importance of this material. Textbooks are usually highly structured in order to accomplish
all of this in relatively few words, and you can and should use this structure to guide your
reading and study. Let us examine as an example Chapter I.
Start with the title. It is, after all, the most prominent heading of them all: "Chapter I:
Near Eastern Origins." It is more than a name--it announces the theme, and that same
theme is explained in more detail in the introductory paragraphs on page 4 and the top of
page 5. For now, just content yourself with a general impression of these introductory
paragraphs and try to absorb some basic information: Western civilization originated in Iraq,
Iran, and Egypt. The theory of evolution is basic to the modern understanding of human
development. The Paleolithic (Old Stone) Age lasted until about 7000 B.C. The Neolithic
Age (New Stone) Age lasted from about 7000 B.C. to 3000 B.C.
Now we get to the first bold heading; write it down:
I. The Paleolithic Age
Under this heading you will find ten paragraphs. The first sentence of a
paragraph is its "topic sentence;" it is supposed to indicate the main idea of the paragraph.
Summarize these main ideas under the main heading:
I. The
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Paleolithic Age
Life was uncertain and based on hunting.
Organization and thinking led to successful hunts.
Paleolithic people also gather wild plant foods.
Paleolithic people lived in caves or simple shelters.
Paleolithic people were organized into extended families and small
tribes.
F. Men and women performed different roles.
G. Important tasks of women were to tend children and the camp.
H. Paleolithic people were well-developed intellectually.
I. Paleolithic people produced art.
J. Paleolithic people sometimes fought each other.
Continue in this manner for the second heading, the Neolithic Age, and the third heading,
Mesopotamian Civilization. This third heading might seem more complex because of the
presence of sub-headings, but actually they were put there by the author to structure the
material for you. Actually they simplify the material. An outline of this section might look
something like this:
III. Mesopotamian Civilization
A. Mesopotamia = land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.
B. Sumer = extreme south Mesopotamia; Akkad = just north of Sumer.
C. Environment and Mesopotamian Culture
1. Irrigation is necessary for agriculture in Mesopotamia.
2. Waterways divided the land.
D. Sumerian Society
1. Central role of religion.
2. Ziggurat - central Temple.
3. Theocracy - government dominated by religion.
4. Nobles controlled most land.
5. Commoners had some land and some voice in society.
6. Slavery was common.
E. Spread of Mesopotamian Culture
1. Sumerians established the basic culture and the Semites spread
it.
2. Ebla, in Syria, shows the spread of culture.
3. There were early direct contacts between Syria and Mesopotamia.
4. Triumph of Babylon
a. Babylon became the capital of Mesopotamia.
b. Hammurabi, c. 1800 B.C., unified Mesopotamia and made
Babylon great.
c. Hammurabi made Babylon the religious center of
Mesopotamia.
5. Invention of Writing and the First Schools
a. Origins of writing go back thousands of years to pictures.
b. Pictographs evolved into cuneiform writing.
c. Pictures were combined to express complex meanings.
d. Pictures were simplified to signs.
e. Signs were used to represent sounds.
f. Sumerian writing was complex and few were literate.
g. Formal schools taught writing and much else.
6. Mesopotamian Thought and Religion
a. Mesopotamian mathematics were sophisticated.
b. Medicine combined superstition, surgery, and drugs.
c. Mesopotamians had many gods.
d. The gods varied in importance.
e. Mesopotamian gods were much like people.
f. Mesopotamians had much mythology.
g. Later Babylonian beliefs continued earlier Mesopotamian
beliefs.
h. Myths explained humans were made to serve the gods.
i. Mesopotamian mythology influenced Hebrew beliefs.
7. Daily Life in Mesopotamia
a. Hammurabi's law code is an important source of
information.
b. Law differed with social status and punishment fit the
crime.
c. There was specific legal procedure.
d. Government had responsibilities under the law.
e. Consumers were protected.
f. Crime was a problem in the cities.
g. Taverns bred crime.
h. Laws sought to punish criminals.
i. Laws dealt extensively with farming and irrigation.
j. Other laws dealt with keeping animals.
k. Marriage and family were regulated by laws.
l. Despite grim laws, families seem to have been happy and
the entire society vibrant.
Continue in this manner through the rest of the chapter. It is some work, but it will provide
rich rewards. Once you have prepared a chapter outline in this manner, you are ready to
hear the lectures on the subject. You will now see the major points more clearly and
understand what areas the lecturer wishes to emphasize. Here is a good rule to remember:
if you meet material twice, one in
the text and once in the lecture, you are very likely to meet it a third time, on the exam.
The scheme of study I propose is not, of course, the only possible way to study, but it is
a proven way of learning, far superior to the random loss of time most students mistake for
study. If you reject this plan for study, create your own structured plan of study--not just
for this class, but for every class you take. Does that seem like a lot of work? It is. That is
what you are here to do. Hard work, intelligently applied, creates learning, and it will open
the world of the mind to you. If you do not apply yourself to some rational plan of study,
you are simply throwing away thousands of dollars and years of your life while hanging
pointlessly around a university.
SECTION I:
In this section you will find the materials necessary to prepare for Exam I: Units I-IV,
Sample Exam I. You will find the Readings for this section, Group 1, in a separate section at
the back of this Pip Packet.
UNIT I: PREHISTORY AND THE PRIMARY CIVILIZATIONS
Objectives: Understand the concept of evolution, learn the characteristics of
Hunting-Gathering (Paleolithic) and Peasant Village (Neolithic) societies, and the primary
civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Readings: McKay Chapter 1
Study Guide:
1. Define (who, what, where, when, why, how, significance): Paleolithic Age, evolution,
Neolithic Age, Mesopotamia, Tigris, Euphrates, Sumer, Akkad, Semite, ziggurat, Sargon,
Ebla, Babylon, Hammurabi, cuneiform, Nile, Old Kingdom, pharaoh, Middle Kingdom,
Hyksos, Thutmose III, Akhenaten, Hittites, Indo-European, Sea Peoples, Gilgamesh.
2. Why is the Paleolithic Age sometimes called the Hunting-Gathering Age?
3. How did the Agricultural Revolution change life?
4. What was the importance of irrigation for life in Mesopotamia and Egypt?
5. Compare and contrast the primary civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia.
6. How did the ancient Egyptians regard their pharaoh?
7. Which earlier culture most influenced the Hittites?
Chronological Outline
Before c. 7000 B.C. Paleolithic (Hunting Gathering) Age
c. 7000 B.C.
Agricultural Revolution
c. 7000-3500 B.C. Neolithic (Peasant Village) Age
c. 3500-3000 B.C. Movement into the river valleys,
beginnings of civilization
Mesopotamia:
c. 3400 B.C.
first literacy
c. 2350 B.C.
Sargon of Agade
c. 1800 B.C.
Hammurabi
Egypt:
c. 3400 B.C.
c. 3100 B.C.
c. 2700-2200 B.C.
c. 2000-1800 B.C.
first literacy
unification of Egypt
Old Kingdom
Middle Kingdom
Near East in General:
c. 1600 B.C.
Hyksos
c. 1600-1200 B.C.
First Age of Empires: Egypt, Hittites, Babylonia
LECTURES
Lecture: Prehistory
I. Distant background
A. World: c. 4 3/4 billion years old
B. Oldest known rocks: c. 4.1 billion years old
C. Oldest known fossil remnants of life: 3.4 billion, in Fig Tree Cherts of S. Africa.
D. Oldest known humans
1. Matter of definition: what is human?
a. Clearly human-like creatures several million B.C.
1. Some were already using tools quite early
b. Modern humans are relatively recent development
1. Example: Neanderthals
a. Near cousins
b. Not as primitive as once thought
c. Complex--i.e. ritualistic burials
c. Homo sapiens
1. All living people without exception
2. Perhaps as old as 120,000 but direct evidence not that
old--but getting older
II. Human being as physical animals
A. Chief assets: Weak, slow, and filthy.
B. Assets: Big, vocal apparatus, manual dexterity, stereoscopis vision,
good memory, and--foremost--INTELLIGENCE
III. Evolution
A. Key to understanding how humans, and other animal, acquired particular
characteristics.
B. Evolution--the religious problem
1. Only a small minority of religious groups are disturbed by it.
2. All opposition to it is essential religious, despite occasional
claims otherwise.
3. Knowledge of evolution, its steps and methods, is imperfect but
the broad outlines are clear.
4. Basic concept: variations within population lead to selective
survival and reproduction
5. Humans developed those assets that conferred advantages in survival. The
advantages work together.
The most important, the advantage that co-ordinates all
others for our species, is intelligence.
6. The difference between us and other animals is one of degree, not any absolute
difference
a. Others are also big, have vocal apparatus, manual dexterity, sterescopic
vision, good memory,
and even intelligence
7. Intelligence gives rise to culture traits and culture
a. Define culture trait, culture
b. Other animals have culture traits, but humans have culture
c. History is the study of cultures that have developed cultures sufficiently
complex to be
characterized by city life and writing. Anthropology typically
deals with prehistoric cultures.
IV. Prehistory of modern humans
A. Hunting-Gathering Age (Paleolithic Age, Old Stone Age)
1. Simple but not inferior
2. Down to c. 8000 B.C.
3. Characteristics: Hunting; gathering; nomadic; little material
culture; virtues: warrior/hunter; religion: unorganized,totemism, animism; politics:
group dynamics,
age.
4. Static society--no inherent reason for change, no inevitable progress.
B. Agricultural Revolution
1. C. 8000 B.C.
2. Not automatic or inevitable
3. Probably began and failed a number of times before it caught on
4. probably developed in small stages over thousands of years
5. Cultivation of plants; domestication of animals
6. Problem of where: oasis, hilly flanks, uplands--but not great
river valleys.
7. Why does it catch on? Not easier! But more reliable!
V. Effects of Agricultural Revolution: Peasant Village Age (Neolithic Age, New Stone Age)
1. Life style changes: sedentary, population increase, more material culture,
beginning of organized
religious cults, proto-government, changing concept of property
2. Psychological change: Conservatism of farmers, new emphasis on thrift and hard
work.
3. Static well being: maximum effort needed for food production, neither time nor
resources left over for anything else.
4. No writing, no cities, no extensive use of metals.
VI. The Great River Valleys: Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, and elsewhere.
A. Avoided because of little rain fall for a long time.
B. Finally, reluctant movement into river valleys c. 5000-3500 B.C.--more about causes
and results next
time.
Lecture: Primary Civilizations
I. Peasant Villages to Civilizations
A. Initially, peasant villages avoid great river valleys because too
little rain fall
B. Some peasant villages forced into great river valleys c. 5000 B.C.
C. Over 1500 years magic circle develops: organizers-------irrigation
\
/
crop surplus
D. Out of crop surplus comes support for organizers and ability to
exempt some from food production, leading to tremendous cultural,
social, and economic development--the emergence of civilization.
II. Common characteristics of primary riverine civilizations
A. Located in great river valleys
B. Based on agricultural surplus and herds of animals
C. Need for irrigation and flood control
D. Strong centralized government based on religion (theocracy)
E. Planned economy
F. Far-ranging foreign trade
G. Considerable development of industry, particularly textiles
H. Advanced metalurgy
I. Monumental architecture
J. Cities
K. Writing
III. Mesopotamia Political History
A. Geography of Tigris-Euphrates valley and irrigation system.
B. Pattern of alternating unity and disunity
C. Early avoidance of valley, settlement, appearance of writing: Sumerian
D. Sumerians, Sumer
1. Origins: ?
2. Location in southern most Mesopotamia: Sumer
E. Early immigrants: Akkadians
1. Semites: define
2. Location slightly north of Sumer: Akkad
F. Political outline of Mesopotamian history, to c. 1600 B.C.
1. Independent cities states until c. 2350 B.C.
2. Sargon ("True King") unifies c. 2350 B.C.
3. After c. 150 years, Sargon's empire fell apart due to barbarian invasions to
replaced by disunity
4. Eventually, unity was re-established, only to fall again, and then be
re-established--reoccuring pattern.
IV. Egypt
A. Geography
1. Lower Egypt/Upper Egypt
2. Annual rise of the Nile.
1. Necessity to shift population, which can only be done by centralized
government for all Egypt.
3. Early avoidance, followed by tentative settlements, development of
irrigation-based agriculture.
4. Hamites
B. Historical Outline, to c. 1600 B.C.
1. Early Dynastic (3100-2700)
a. Unification as south conquers north
b. Rapid cultural development
2. Old Kingdom (2700-2200)
a. No break with preceeding
b. Pyramid age
1. Djoser, Imhotep
2. Function of pyramids
3. Built by willing workers, not slaves
c. Golden Age
d. Things fall apart
3. Middle Kingdom (2000-1800)
a. Incompletely recaptures glory of O.K.
b. Things fall apart
4. Invasion of Hyksos (c. 1800-1600)
V. Egyptian Society
A. Influence of splendid Egyptian geography in contrast to surroundings
B. Good = Egyptian; bad = non-Egyptians; Egyptian xenophobia
C. Belief in beneficence of deities, especially pharaoh
D. Again, no individualism.
VI. Diffusion
A. Ideas of civilization spread beyond the river valleys
B. By c. 1600 B.C. civilization has spread generally throughout Fertile Crescent.
UNIT II: EMPIRES OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
Objectives: Trace the spread and development of the civilization of the ancient Near East
through the First and Second Age of Empires.
Readings: McKay Chapter 2
Study Guide:
1. Define (who, what, where, when, why, how, significance): Hebrews, Phoenicians,
alphabet, Yahweh, Philistines, Jerusalem, covenant, monotheism, Assyria, Persians, Medes,
Cyrus the Great, Zoroaster.
2. What was the condition of Egypt after 1200 B.C.?
3. Did Judaism emerge fully developed or did it grow and evolve in time? If so, describe the
evolution.
4. Compare and contrast the Assyrian and Persian Empires. What areas did each rule? How
did each behave toward their subjects?
Chronological Outline:
c.
c.
c.
c.
c.
1200-330 B.C.
1200 B.C.
1000-925 B.C.
750-600 B.C.
550-330 B.C.
Second Age of Empires
Sea Peoples
United monarchy of Israel
Assyrian Empire
Persian Empire
LECTURES
First Age of Empires, 1600-1200 B.C.
I. Background: before 1600 B.C.
A. Two civilizations in isolation
B. Diffusion from these primary civilizations
C. Civilization spreads through N. Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Anatolia
D. Empires appear in these area c. 1800-1600 B.C.: Babylon, Mitanni, Hittites, Minoans,
Mycenaeans.
1. Concept of Indo-Europeans
II. Founding of the Egyptian Empire
A. Sekenenra, Kahmose, Ahmose.
B. Read account of Ahmose the Ship's Captain
C. Egyptian follow-up raids into Palestine and Syria
D. To Euphrates; conflict with Palestinians, Syrians, Mitanni, Hittites.
E. Hatshepsut
1. Importance of story
a. Good story
b. Some indication of detail in which we know this history but which you are not
getting here
c. Give idea how individual personalities affect history
2. Tendancy of 18th dynasty to produce females
3. Hatsheptsut assists Thutmose I and Thutmose II
4. Thutmose II succeeded by Thutmose III, Hatsheptsut as regent.
5. Hatshepsut as His Majesty
6. Hatshepsut's policies of peace and trade
7. Thutmose III takes over, reverses policies
F. Thutmose III builds Egyptian Empire: emergence of world of frequent hot and cold
wars.
III. Akhnaton
A. Religious ideas
1. Aton
2. Is this monotheism?
3. Later influences?
B. Interpretations
1. Religious visionary
2. Mad man
3. Power struggle with priests
C. Effects
1. Egypt disrupted
2. Empire falls apart; Hittites move into vacuum
3. Failure of Aton religion
D. Tutankhamen
E. Conflict between Egyptians and Hittites: Battle of Kadesh
F. Weakening of great empires
IV. End of the First Age of Empires: Folk Migrations c. 1200 B.C.
A. Sea Peoples
B. Indo-Europeans
C. Semites
1. Including Hebrews
D. New age emerges: small peoples are able to develop.
Second Age of Empires 1200-330 B.C.
I. Review
A. Age of Primary Riverine Civilizations: c. 3500-1800 B.C.
B. First Age of Empires: c. 1800-1200 B.C.
C. Second Age of Empire: c. 1200-330 B.C.
II. Period of Change: c. 1200 B.C.
A. Barbarian invasions destroy old empires
1. Sea Peoples
2. New wave of Indo-Europeans
3. New wave of Semites
B. Opportunity for minor peoples to develope distinctive cultures
III. Philistines--remants of Sea Peoples
IV. Hebrews
A. Semites
B. Insignificant politically, artistically, culturally
C. Significance: first great ethical monotheisitic religion
1. Not much significance to other ancient groups
2. Significance to later ages: Judaism, Christianity, Islam.
D. Source problem: virtually nothing but Hebrew Scriptures (a.k.a. Old
Testament) for earliest history.
E. Composition of Hebrew Scriptures
1. Traditional ascription to early books to Moses is impossible
2. Modern scholarship
a. Early oral traditions
b. First written sources c. 850 B.C.
c. Earliest books composed of four parallel strands
dating between c.850 and 400 B.C.
d. Later books at late as 200 B.C.
3. Accuracy?
a. Cannot check early books.
b. Two possible approaches
1. Accept basic account, try to fit it in to basic outline of Near Eastern history.
a. Nomadic group, traditionally led by Abraham, moves from Mesopotamia to
Palestine
b. Egyptian captivity
c. Move into Palestine c. 1200 B.C.
d. Disunited and frequently at war c. 1200-1000 B.C.
e. Locally strong under David and Solomon c. 1000-930 B.C.
f. Thereafter poltically weak and divided
2. Admit Socratic ignorance; treat O.T. as literary work.
4. Later books--some independent information
a. Example: Mesha of Moab, c. 830 B.C.
1. Both claim victory.
2. Both talk about one war in general terms
3. Problem may be minimized but not abolished
4. Problem is currently indeterminate.
F. Broad areas of ignorance about Hebrew history.
G. Most significance area of Hebrew history: religious development
1. Religion did not emerge fully developed--rather developed through time, with idea
of God evolving
2. God first seen as local, particular deity of Hebrew tribe
3. Gradually develope grander concept
4. Only developes into consistent ethical monotheistic religion relatively late.
5. Later and continued evolution of Judaism.
V. Phoenicians
A. North of Hebrews along coast
B. Semites
C. Different development
1. Insignificant religon
2. Great merchants, traders, explorers.
1. Economic necessity
2. Colonies: Carthage, Malta, Sicily, Spain
3. Little original culture, but great transmitters of culture
4. One cultural development: alphabet
VI. Assyrians
A. Inland from Phoenicians
B. Semites
C. Military culture
D. Surrounded by enemies
E. Looting phase: c.900-800 B.C.
F. Empire: c. 750-600 B.C.
1. Size of empire
2. Frequent revolts
3. State terrorism
4. Collapse
VII. Persians c. 550-330 B.C.
A. Indo-Europeans
B. Size of Empire
C. Better run than Assyrian empire
D. Continuation of Near Eastern cultures within Persian Empire
UNIT III: EARLY AND CLASSICAL GREECE
Objectives: Learn the essential elements of Greek political evolution and become
acquaintance with the chief Greek intellectual and artistic achievements.
Readings: McKay Chapter III
Study Guide:
1. Define (who, what, where, when, why, how, significance): Hellas, Ionia, polis, acropolis,
Minoans, Mycenaeans, Homer, Iliad, Odyssey, Hesiod, Dark Age, Lyric poetry, Archilochus,
Sappho, polis, Sparta, helots, Athens, Solon, Pisistratus, Cleisthenes, Classical Period,
Persian Wars, Delian League, Peloponnesian War, Herodotus, Thucydides, Pericles,
Parthenon, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Thales, Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle, Macedonia, Thebes, Philip of Macedonia
2. The Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations existed at the same time as what other ancient
Near Eastern civilizations?
3. What importance did the works of Homer have for the Greeks?
4. Why and where did the Greeks colonize? How did their colonization change Greek life?
5. What was Spartan government like? Spartan life style? Why?
6. Trace the political evolution of Athens. In what sense was Athens a democracy?
7. What was the significance of the Delian League to Athens?
8. Did the end of the Peloponnesian War bring peace to Greece? What happened in the
period from about 400 to about 360 B.C.?
Chronological Outline
c. 2000-1100 B.C.
c. 1100-800 B.C.
c. 800-500 B.C.
c. 500-330 B.C.
rise of Macedonia
Minoans and Mycenaeans
Dark Age; Homer
Lyric Age: colonization, lyric poetry, rise of Sparta and Athens
Classical Age: Persian Wars, Delian League, Peloponnesian War,
Lecture: Early Greece
I. Greece to 1200 B.C.
A. Inhabited in Paleolithic times
B. Minoan civilization on Crete and Mycenaeans on mainland part of First Age of Empires
C. Minoans disappear c. 1400 B.C.--possibly due to Mycenaeans
D. Mycenaeans disappear c. 1200 B.C.--Sea Peoples, Dorians, both?
II. Greek Dark Ages 1200-800 B.C.
A. Loss of literacy
B. Village life
C. Frequency of warfare
D. Lack of unity
E. Simple village governments: Primitive Monarch: Basileus, Gerousia, Ekklesia
F. Social evolution in late Dark Ages
1. Population increase
2. Evolution of land rich and land poor
3. Emergence of aristocracy
4. Aristocracts subvert primitive monarchy
5. Tension grows in society
a. Conquest unlikely
b. Revolution unlikely
c. Colonization
1. Answer most often taken
2. Relieves but does not solve problem
3. Colonization begins in Dark ages, becomes very important in the next
period, Lyric or Archaic
Age
G. Homer
1. Slight memories of Mycenaean past
2. Strong reflection of Dark Age society
3. Literature from an illiterate age: oral poetry
4. Position in Greek cultural life
5. Frequently misunderstood by modern readers
III. Lyric (or Archaic) Age c. 800-500 B.C.
A. Colonization
1. Where
2. Independence of colonies
3. Effects
1. Relieves but does not end political crisis
2. Spreads Greeks
3. Promotes trade
4. Brings Greeks into contact with older civilizations
B. Influences of older civilizations change virtually every aspect of Greek life
C. Rise of the Tyrants
1. Foreign influences have undermined power of aristocrats.
a. Hoplite phalanx
b. Merchant class
2. Revolutions lead to tyrants (define)
a. Piecemeal process
b. Quite chaotic
c. Land to poor, trade for merchants, amusements for all
D. Tyrants replaced by timocracies
1. Define timocracy
2. Again piecemeal process
E. Conclusion: Period of tremendous change
1. Primitive monarchy > aristocracy > colonization > influx of
influences from older civilizations > tyrants > timocracies
2. Period of trememdous change
1. This is rare
2. Change ceases to be threatening, is welcomed.
3. Effects of age of change
a. Undermining of traditional, conservative institutions of society and family
b. Stripped of these traditional supports, the individual is thrown back on own
personality: rise
of individualism
4. Contrast to ancient Near East.
IV. Athens: Development of a Typical City
A. Rise of aristocracy
B. Aristocrats usurp control of government: 3 archons, gerousia (Areopagus), ekklesia
C. Growing tension
D. Athens not much engaged in colonization but much in trade
E. Solon, law giver (not tyrant), attempts to resolve tensions but fails
F. Pisistratus becomes tyrant and does usual things
G. Pisitratus' sons expelled
H. Cleisthenes, law giver (not tyrant) creates liberal timocracy that soon evolves into
democracy (if you are
male and citizen)
1. In addition to traditional government, demes, prytaneis, boule
I. Evolution in early fifth century turns Athens into democracy
1. Exceptions: women, slaves, metics.
V. Sparta: Atypical
A. Early development
1. Spartans simply say Lycurgus
2. Modern view: lack of colonization leds to conquest, which solves some problems,
but creates a new
problems: control of the conquered population.
B. Spartan society
1. Geography
2. Classes: Spartans, helots, perioikoi
3. Government, frozen in mid-evolution: 2 kings, semi-aristocratic gerousia, primitive
assembly, 10
democratic ephors.
4. Life-style
C. Final evaluation
1. Admired in abstract, but not copies in practice.
2. Tremendous cost of repressing helot population--restriction of Spartan's own
freedom and
development.
Lecture: Classical Greece (c. 500-360 B.C.)
I. Background
A. Lyric Age (800-500 B.C.):
1. Tremendous cultural change.
2. No really dominant polis in Greece.
a. Despite Spartan military strength
B. Persian Empire
1. No stable border in NW
2. Has taken over Ionian colonies
a. Persians tax and restrict freedom
b. Persians squash normal political evolution
II. Persian Wars
A. Ionian Revolt (499-493 B.C.)
1. Seeks help from Greece: Sparta refuses; Athens aids.
2. Fails due to disunity
3. Persians swear revenge against Athens
B. First expedition cracks up on Mt. Athos.
C. Naval expedition to Marathon Bay (490)
1. Athens searches for help: Pheidipides
2. Athens wins
3. Origins of the Marathon race.
D. Ten years interval
1. Greek inactivity; Persians otherwise involved
2. Rise of Themistocles
a. Board of Ten Generals
b. Creates Athenian navy
c. Double agent for Persia
E. Xerxes Expedition (480-478)
1. Tales of size.
2. Advance into Greece
3. Spies caught and shown around
4. Necessity and problem of delaying Persians
5. Thermopylae and its significance
6. Capture of Athens
7. Salamis
8. Plataea and Mycale.
F. Continuing danger from Persians and necessity for mutual protection
II. Delian League
A. Sparta return to isolation
B. Athens forms Delian Legue
1. Objects: Protection for Greece, freedom for Ionia, loot.
2. Organization: each polis one vote, Athenian veto, and proportionate contributions
of ships and men
or money.
3. Sparta sulks at home with Peloponnesian League
C. Effects of Delian League: Athens becomes military and economic power.
D. Transition from voluntary league to Athenian Empire
1. Athens builds military power
2. Athens becomes addicted to wealth
1. Athens uses wealth to improve economy, create culture, pay for democracy
3. Athens uses military to keep Delian League together
4. Sparta alarmed at growth of Athenian power.
III. Athenian culture during fifth century
A. Rich, powerful society, supported by Delian League money
B. Great art and architecture
C. Great literary production: Greek drama: tragedy and comedy
D. Sophists, attracted by wealth
E. Socrates
1. Essential role in combining philosophical methods with Sophists' interests reorients
future philosophy
and splits off science
2. Role of Plato
3. Essential doctrine: truth = good.
a. Must strip away false conceptions
b. Then build with logic
4. Doctrine of the ideal
F. Even Athenian democracy supported by Delian League money.
G. Contradictions of Athens summed up in life of Pericles
1. Leading politician in Athens at its height: Promotes art and literature, democracy,
but it is all
dependent on imperialism and exploitation of Delian League.
2. Pericles would argue Athens protects Greece from Persians, promotes peace,
fosters prosperity and
culture.
H. Growing tensions
1. Athens, led by Pericles, has ambitions to take control of all Greece.
2. Sparta and Peloponnesian League growing fear.
IV. Peloponnesian War (431-404)
A. Long range causes and short range causes
B. Three divisions
1. Battle of Whale and Elephant--no decision
2. False Peace
3. Persian intervention; slow triumph of Sparta
C. Effect of war on Athenians
1. Mitylene revolt
2. Melian Massacre
3. Arginusae Trials
D. Athens looses
1. Breaks Athenian power
2. Generally discredits democracy
3. Wars contiue, with different power alignments
V. Spartan domination (404-371)
A. Greece has merely changed masters
B. Opposition at home and from Persians
C. Long, brutal, inconlcusive wars
D. Spartan collapse
VI. Thebes also fails to establish lasting hegemony (371-362)
VII. Situation of Greece c. 360 B.C.: city state society destroyed by own excesses and lack
of moderation, now ripe for external conquest.
UNIT IV: HELLENISTIC DIFFUSION
Objective: Learn how Alexander changed the world and the political, social, and cultural
characteristics of the Hellenistic period.
Reading: McKay Chapter 4
Study Guide:
1. Define (who, what, where, when, why, how, significance): Alexander, Hellenistic period,
Hellenism, Seleucid monarchy, Pergamene monarchy, Ptolemaic monarchy, Antigonid
monarchy, mystery religion, Tyche, Serapis and Isis, Cynics, Epicureans, Stoics, Diogenes,
Epicurus, Zeno, Aristarchus, Euclid, Archimedes, Eratosthenes.
2. Whose empire, chiefly, did Alexander conquer?
3. What happened to Alexander's empire after his death?
4. The Hellenistic world was divided in some ways, but united in others. Was it united or
divided politically, culturally, economically, religiously, philosophically, scientifically?
Explain.
5. What did the Hellenistic religions have in common? How did they differ?
6. How did the life of Hellenistic women differ from the life of earlier Greek women?
7. In what areas did Hellenistic science make significant advances?
Lecture: Alexander and the Hellenistic Age
I. Rise of Macedonia: Career of Philip of Macedonia
A. Initial state of Macedonia: underdeveloped, backward, threatened, warlike population.
B. Early influence of Thebes on young Philip.
C. Desparate fight for throne.
D. Reforms of infantry, cavalry.
E. Moves against barbarians.
F. Securing coast of Macedonia.
G. Moves to east, securing gold and other resources.
H. Gradual and plausible intervension in northern and central Greece
I. Private life: Olympias, Alexander.
J. Sacred War.
K. Dominace achieved and assassination.
II. Alexander
A. Campaign against barbarians.
B. Campaign against Greek cities.
C. Movement into Anatolia vs. Persians; Battle of Granicus River.
D. Capture of Anatolia.
E. Move into interior.
F. Into Phoenicia; Battle of Issus
G. Through Judaea into Egypt; Siwah expedition.
H. Problems of administering Egypt.
I. Persian offers.
J. Into northern Mesopotamia; battle of Arbela
K. Into southern Mesopotamia; problems of administration.
L. Into Persia; treasure of the Persians.
M. Persuit of Darius III
N. Through tribal Iran and Afghanistan.
O. Defeat of Porus.
P. Men refuse to go on; alcholism; brotherhood.
Q. Down the Indus.
R. Return: plans go wrong: Nearchus and the navy; ALexander's desert trek.
S. Babylon and Death.
III. Interpretation
A. End of the era of the polis; birth of the era of the empire.
B. Spreading out Greeks.
C. Two interpretations, each with some right: age of fusion; age of Greek colonization of
ancient Near East.
IV. Hellenistic World, c. 323-30 B.C.
A. Definition.
B. Cultural unity.
1. Hellenistic science: first age of science
a. Progress in mathematics, astronomy, geography, medicine.
b. Failure of first age of science: lack of exact means of calculation, observation,
measurement, and
prejudice against mechanics.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Literature: Menander
Philosophy: Cynics, Epicureans, Stoics: differences mask essential similarities.
Religion: ruler cults; Tyche.
Conclusion: individual isolation and alienation.
SAMPLE EXAM I
This sample exam covers Units I-IV. This is a typical exam, but it certainly does not
contain all or even the majority of possible questions. It is meant to be a means of selftesting. If you can take this exam and do well, you probably can do well on the actual exam,
but merely answering the questions in this exam is by no means sufficient preparation for
taking the actual exam.
History 101: Sample Exam I
Name_________________________
Do any two of the four following sections and the map.
Section I:
1. Which of the following was typical of life in a peasant village?
1. farming
2. gathering of wild plants
3. nomadic life
4. writing
5. hunting as a basic source of food
2. Which of the following led directly to the development of the first civilizations in the great
river valleys?
1. writing
2. theocracy
3. the invasion of the Akkadians
4. the Agricultural Revolution
5. irrigation
3. What is a theocracy?
1. any religion
2. any government
3. any monarchy
4. a government that incorporates the religion and takes it authority from the religion
5. any non-democratic government
4. All of the following groups were active during the First Age of Empires, c. 1800-1200
B.C., except
1. Persians
2. Egyptians
3. Mycenaeans
4. Hittites
5. Minoans
5. The basis of the power of the Greek aristocrats was
1. their control of large areas of farmland.
2. theocratic control of religion.
3. their claim to be descendants of the Mycenaeans.
4. their monopoly on literacy.
5. their domination of trade.
6. The name Homer is associated with
1. the first Greek statuary.
2. the development of the Spartan political system.
3. the emergence of Athenian democracy.
4. the Iliad and Odyssey, which are Dark Age oral poetry.
5. the Iliad and Odyssey, which are Archaic Period lyric poetry.
7. Which of the following are manifestations of the individualism of the Lyric (or Archaic)
Age of Greek history
1. the development of ethical monotheism
2. lyric poetry and the careers of the tyrants.
3. aristocratic domination of governments
4. the worship of Tyche
5. the Agricultural Revolution
8. All of the following happened during the Lyric (Archaic) Age of Greek history except
1. influx of ideas and influences from the ancient Near Eastern civilizations.
2. aristocrats overthrown by tyrants
3. wide spread colonization.
4. tyrants overthrown by timocracies.
5. unification of Greece.
9. Which of the following is true about the art of the Lyric Age?
1. The Greeks were much influenced by the art of the ancient Near Eastern civilizations.
2. Art was not very important to these early peoples, and it remained little developed.
3. The ancient Greeks did not allow portrayal of the human form.
4. Greek art was essentially always a copy of Egyptian art, and it is always very hard to
distinguish Greek
art from its Egyptian models.
5. Greek art was absolutely naturalistic and never stylized at all.
10. All of the following were parts of Spartan government and society except
1. congress of helots.
2. ephors.
3. assembly of warriors.
4. gerousia.
5. two kings who ruled at the same time.
11. The major result of the Persian Wars was
1. the destruction of the Persian Empire.
2. the rise of Sparta to the dominant position in Greece.
3. the collapse of the Assyrian Empire.
4. the rise of the tyrants throughout Greece.
5. the development of the Delian League.
12. The leader of Athens during much of the fifth century B.C., whose name is associated
with the greatest achievements of Athens and the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, was
1. Pericles.
2. Euripides.
3. Sappho.
4. Thales.
5. Herodotus.
13. All of the following were Athenian playwrites except
1. Aristophanes.
2. Aeschylus.
3. Euripides.
4. Sophocles.
5. Pisistratus.
14. Socrates' great pupil who became an even greater philosopher and who provided us with
the most important records of Socrates' thoughts was
1. Plato.
2. Hesiod.
3. Aristotle.
4. Pisistratus.
5. Thales.
15. After the Peloponnesian War,
1. Athens dominately Greece for about 100 years.
2. Sparta tried to dominate Greek political life for approximately thirty years.
3. the Persian Empire conquered Greece.
4. Thebes united Greece under her leadership.
5. the Romans moved into the power vacuum left in Greece almost immediately.
16. Alexander the Great conquered all of the following areas except
1. Egypt
2. Italy
3. Mesopotamia
4. Persia
5. Anatolia (modern Turkey)
17. Who founded Cynic philosophy?
1. Cynos of Cyrene
2. Skepticos
3. Epicuros
4. Diogenes
5. Zeno
18. Which of the following is true of the Hellenistic Period?
1. political power was mainly in the hands of the Greek city states.
2. most governments were democratic
3. during this period the first Greek philosophers lived
4. people seem to have felt frequently a sense of isolation and alienation.
5. during this period Athens achieved complete dominance over Greece.
19. The name of the Hellenistic goddess Tyche may be translated as
1. Fortune.
2. The Unknown.
3. Ishtar.
4. The Only God.
5. the Divine Alexander.
20. The period of about 430-360 B.C. saw
1. Roman conquest of the Greek world.
2. almost constant warfare and the weakening of the Greekcity states.
3. the destruction of the ancient Near Eastern Kingdoms bythe Sea Peoples.
4. colonization and the beginnings of lyric poetry.
5. the rise and fall of the Assyrian empire.
Section II:
1. What was the immediate effect of the Agricultural Revolution?
1. the development of the primary civilizations in the great river valleys.
2. the first use of tools.
3. the development of language.
4. the unification of Sumer and Akkad
5. the appearance of the peasant village (Neolithic) cultures.
2. Which of the following is true about the Sumerians?
1. They were Semites.
2. They developed the first Mesopotamian civilization.
3. They were always unified into a single empire.
4. They were highly democratic.
5. Their language is closely related to English and German.
3. All of the following are true of early Egypt except
1. It was a theocracy.
2. It was usually unified.
3. It was a prosperous and usually peaceful society
4. The ancient Egyptians were a native North African people.
5. It was frequently invaded by other groups.
4. Which of the following groups was famous as explorers and merchants?
1. Egyptians
2. Phoenicians
3. Akkadians
4. Assyrians
5. Hebrews
5. Which of the following groups formed their distinctive culture primarily during the Second
Age of Empires, c. 1200-330 B.C.?
1. Egyptians
2. Hebrews
3. Akkadians
4. Hitties
5. Minoans
6. All of the following are true about the Hebrews and their religion except
1. The Jewish religion was basically very similar to the religions of ancient Egypt and
Mespotamia.
2. The Hebrews were never extremely strong militarily or politically.
3. Judaism continues to be an important living religion and has greatly influenced other
religions, such as
Christianity and Islam.
4. The Jewish religion was very concerned with marriage and family.
5. The Jewish religion and view of God was fully developed from the beginning and
underwent no significant changes through time.
7. The great monarchy that unified the Near East in a very large empire that endured until
its conquest by Alexander the Great was the empire of the
1. Romans
2. Persians
3. Egyptians
4. Hebrews
5. Phoenicians
8. Which of the following was much more typical of the Greeks than of the ancient Near
Eastern civilizations?
1. individualism
2. monotheism
3. political unity
4. theocracy
5. irrigation
9. Which of the following was not part of government of a typical Greek village during the
Dark Ages?
1. Gerousia (Council of Elders)
2. Hellenotamiae (Council of Priests)
3. Ekklesia (Assembly of Warriors)
4. Basileus (War chief)
10. All of the following are true of Athens except
1. Athens' internal political evolution was a peaceful process, involving compromise and
never violence.
2. Athens followed a generally typical course of political development during the Lyric
Age.
3. Athens developed into a democracy during the fifth century B.C.
4. Even in Athenian democracy, women and resident aliens had no political voice.
5. During the fifth century B.C., Athens developed a violent rivalry with Sparta that led
to a long,
destructive war.
11. The great Greek woman writer of lyric poetry, who is generally acknowledged to be one
of the greatest authors of western civilization, was
1. Homer
2. Sappho
3. Solon
4. Akhenaton
5. Archilochus
12. The Delian League was
1. the chief ally of the Persians during the Persian Wars.
2. the institution Sparta used to dominate the Peloponnesus.
3. created by Philip of Macedonia.
4. created to rule Alexander's kingdom after his death.
5. the alliance headed by Athens that developed because of the Persian Wars.
13. A helot was
1. a Spartan slave.
2. an Athenian slave.
3. an unfree agricultural serfs in Sparta.
4. an office in the Athenian government.
5. a subject of the Persian king.
14. The first Greek philosopher was
1. Solon.
2. Thales.
3. Archilochus.
4. Pericles.
5. Sophocles.
15. Who won the Peloponnesian War?
1. Persia.
2. Sparta.
3. Macedonia.
4. Athens.
5. Thebes.
16. The Hellenistic Period was approximately
1. 1200-800 B.C.
2. 800-500 B.C.
3. 500-330 B.C.
4. 330-30 B.C.
5. 30 B.C.-A.D. 500
17. After Alexander, his empire
1. continued as a unified whole until conquered by the Romans
2. continued as a unified whole and was known as the Roman Empire
3. was quickly reconquered by the Persians.
4. was divided by his generals into a number of kingdoms
5. became democratic
18. All of the following are true about Philip of Macedonia except
1. He made Macedonia into a major power
2. He was the father of Alexander the Great
3. He founded the Hellenic League
4. He promoted the spread of democracy
5. He planned to attack the Persian Empire
19. All of the Hellenistic philosophies had in common
1. the goal of achieving individual happiness
2. monotheism
3. promotion of loyalty and patriotism to the Hellenistic monarchies
4. inquiry into the nature of the world's composition.
5. mysticism.
20. Which of the following was typical of the Hellenistic Period?
1. war with the Persian Empire.
2. lyric poetry.
3. democracy.
4. political domination of Sparta over other Greek city state.
5. worship of Tyche.
Section III: Identify (in a paragraph explain the basic information: who, what, where, when,
why, how, significance) of five of the following:
Sumer, Hittites, Semites, Phoenicians, theocracy, lyric poetry, Peloponnesian War, Tyche,
Agricultural Revolution
Section IV: Answer two of the following. A decent answer ought to be several paragraphs
long, address itself to the question directly, and support its conclusions with specific factual
information.
1. What role did irrigation play in the development of the earliest civilizations?
2. In what sense was Athens during the fifth century B.C. a democracy? What was
democratic about Athens in this period?
3. How did Alexander's conquests change the world?
4. How did Socrates change philosophy?
5. In what ways were the primary civilizations of Egypt and Sumer similar? Why?
Map: On a map identify the following locations: Nile river, Euphrates River, Tigris River,
Sumer, Akkad, homelands of the Hebrew, homeland of the Hittites, Athens, Sparta, Ionia,
Macedonia
SECTION II
In this section you will find the materials necessary to prepare for Exam II: Units V-VIII,
Sample Exam II. You will find the Readings for this section, Group 2, in a separate section
at the back of this Pip Packet.
UNIT V: THE RISE OF ROME
Objectives: Understand the cultural influences that shaped early Rome and how Rome grew
from humble beginnings to a powerful empire, and then lost her republican form of
government.
Readings: McKay Chapter 5
Study Guide:
1. Define (who, what, where, when, why, how, significance): Etruscans, dictator, Celts,
Gauls, franchise, senate, plebeians, patricians, Struggle of the Orders, Carthage, Punic Wars,
Hannibal, Scipio, Cato, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, Marius, Sulla, Julius Caesar, First
Triumvirate, Octavian, Augustus.
2. How did the Greeks and Etruscans influence the early Romans? Where in Italy were the
Greeks and Etruscans settled?
3. What was the importance of the early Roman wars?
4. Sketch the principal magistracies and political organs of the Roman Republic.
5. What was the Struggle of the Orders, how was it resolved, and why did it take so long?
6. Why did the Punic Wars last so long? What was the chief result of these wars?
7. Compare and contrast the attitudes of Cato and Scipio toward Greek culture. Was Greek
culture really a threat to the Romans? Why did it seem so to some?
8. What problems did Rome face c. 133 B.C.?
9. What trends do you see in the period 133-27 B.C.?
Chronological Outline
753 B.C.
Traditional date of the founding of Rome
509 B.C.
Traditional date of the establishment of the Roman Republic
390 B.C.
Gauls sack Rome
264-202 B.C. First and Second Punic Wars
202-146 B.C. Rome takes the Greek eastern Mediterranean
133-27 B.C. Destruction of the Roman republican form of government.
Lecture: Early Rome
I. Background
A. Patriarchal organization of primitive Italy.
B. Phoenicians settle in N.Africa, Sardinia, Corsica
1. Chief city = Carthage.
2. General term for these western Phoenicians = Carthaginians.
3. Visit Italy as merchants.
4. Important influence on early Italy peoples.
C. Greeks
1. Settle in S. Italy.
2. Important cultural influence.
D. Etruscans
1. Conflicting theory of origins.
2. Civilized relatively early.
3. Importance influence on Romans and other Italians.
II. Roman beginnings
A. Roman foundation myths not reliable.
B. Real origins obscure and unimportant.
C. Later, stories much elaborated out of sense of competition with Greeks and to
promote glory of
leading families.
III. Monarchical Period, c. 1000 (753 B.C.) B.C.-500 B.C.
A. Primitive monarchy
1. Rex
2. Senate (Senex=old man)
3. Comitia Curiata (Curia, -ae)
4. Parallels to early Greek and early German origins.
B. Most later myths not reliable.
C. Class system
1. Patricians (parallel aristocrats)
2. Plebians (poor farmers)
D. End of the monarchy: edifying myth vs. aristocratic coup.
IV. Early Republic, c. 500-300 B.C.
A. Conflict of the Orders
1. Problem
a. Initial Patrician political and economic domination.
b. Rise of Plebian economic and military talent.
2. Means
a. Plebian protests: Consilium Plebis, argument, non-cooperation.
b. Need for consensus to change government.
3. Stages
a. Reforms c. 450 B.C.
b. Reforms c. 360 B.C.
c. Final reforms c. 287 B.C.
4. Results: Legal equality; practical oligarchy
B. Development of government
1. Monarchy: Rex, Senate, Comitia Curiata
2. Early Republic: 2 Consuls, Senate, Comitia Curiata
3. Changes c. 450 B.C.
4. Changes c. 360 B.C.
5. Changes c. 287 B.C.
C. Intimate connection between Struggle of the Orders and government development
D. Struggle for survival
1. Vital role of location on one good ford of Tiber river.
2. c. 750-400 B.C.
a. Pure survival
b. Against southern Etruscans, many mountain tribes, fellow Latins.
c. Area: small, about 1/2 McLean county.
d. Precarious stability by 400 B.C.
3. Celtic Invasion, c. 400 B.C., destroys all gains.
4. C. 400-350 B.C. Romans re-establish security zone in central Italy.
5. Effects of early struggles: Romans become militarized and paranoid.
Lecture: Middle and Late Republic
I. Middle Republic, c. 300-133 B.C., political-military history
A. Expansion over Italy
1. Roman "paranoid aggression"
2. Some welcome expansion of Roman power
3. Roman non-interference in daily life
B. Punic Wars: Roman domination of the western Mediterranean.
1. Origins of conflict.
2. First Punic War, 264-241 B.C.
a. Indecisive conflict between land and naval power.
b. Many dead
c. Romans acquire Sicily
3. Interwar period
a. Roman actions in Sardina guarantee continuation of conflict
b. Carthaginian expansion in Spain
4. Second Punic War. 218-203 B.C.
a. Roman provocation leads to war
b. Hannibal invades Italy
1. Battle of Lake Trebia
2. Battle of Lake Trasamene
3. Dictatorship of Q. Fabius Maximus "Cuncator"
a. Rejection of Fabius' leadership
b. Battle of Cannae
c. Development of Fabian tactics
d. hannibal and elephants
e. Effects of prolonged fighting In Italy
4. Fighting elsewhere: Spain, Sicily, Greece (First Macedonian
War)
5. Scipio and invasion of Africa; peace
6. Effects of war:
a. Devastation of Italian agriculture
b. Carthage broken
c. Rome as master of western Mediterranean
d. Grudge to be settled with Macedonia--beginning of
Roman
involvment in East.
7. Third Punic War: Rome wipes out Carthage
C. Expansion into East, 200-30 B.C.
1. Macedonian Wars
a. Review 1st Macedonian War
b. 2nd Macedonia War
1. Beginnings of a pattern: Greeks encourage Roman intervention
2. Beginnings of a pattern: Hellenistic monarchies collapse easily
a. No real citizen loyalty
b. Mercenary soldiers not good
3. Beginnings of a pattern: genuine Roman reluctance to annex
eastern lands;
not naked imperialism.
c. 3rd Macedonian War: continued Roman reluctance to annex.
d. 4th War: finally, annexation.
2. Other wars and interventions
a. Seleucid War: another example of Roman withdrawal
b. Galatian Intervention: example of Greeks promoting intervention.
c. War prevented between Ptolemies and Selecids: positive action
d. Slave raid in Epirus: negative action
e. Attalid inheritance: inevitability of Roman take over
3. Inadequacy of Roman government for good government in annexed areas
II. Middle Republic, intellectual history: coming to terms with Greek culture.
A. Presence of Greek culture from early period
B. Intimate acquaintance from expansion over Italy
C. Ambiguous feelings
1. admire culture
2. dislike and fear Greeks
3. sense of Roman cultural inferiority
D. Variety of reactions
1. Conservative rejection (Cato the Elder)--in vain
2. Enthusiastic acceptance--Scipio Africanus and son
E. "Conquering the conqueror was conquered."
III. Later Republic, 133-27 B.C.
A. Collapse of the Republic as a result of stresses brought by success.
1. City government trying to rule the world.
2. Corrupting influences of wealth and power.
B. Characteristics
1. Charasmatic leaders
2. Military leaders
3. Breakdown of respect for law, order, tradition
4. Increase in violence
C. Incidents illustrating collapse
1. Gracchi brothers
2. Sulla and Marius
3. Career of Julius Caesar
III. Narrative account 46-27 B.C.: Final chapter in the death of the Republic and the Rise of
the new Imperial order.
UNIT VI: PAX ROMANA
Lectures: The Roman Empire at its Height, Christianity.
Objective: Understand the theoretical and actual bases of the Principate and the
characteristics of life and culture during the Principate. Learn how Christianity grew in this
world, and what sorts of reasons have been offered for the fall of the Roman Empire.
Reading: McKay Chapter 6
Study Guide:
1. Define (who, what, where, when, why, how, significance): Augustus, princeps, principate,
Virgil, Paul of Tarsus, Hillel, gentiles, Mithraism, Good Emperors, Goths, Diocletian,
Constantine, Constantinople, dominus, Edward Gibbon, Isis, Cybele.
2. What was the theoretical bases of Augustus' powers?
3. What was Judaea like at the time of Jesus?
4. Judged as a whole, did the Roman emperors provide good government?
5. What was the third century A.D. like?
6. How did Diocletian and Constantine change the Roman empire?
7. What problems did the Romans face after Constantine?
8. Why was Christianity persecuted?
Chronological Outline
27 B.C.-14 A.D.
Augustus
A.D. 96-180
Good Emperors
3rd cent. A.D.
chaos within the Roman empire
284-337 A.D.
Diocletian and Constantine
476 A.D.
End of the Western Roman Empire
Lecture: The Roman Empire at Its Height
I. Review period from death of Caesar to Battle of Actium
II. Octavian's problem
A. Republic has malfunctioned for a century; it cannot be revived simply.
B. Roman hatred of kings and autocracy.
C. Octavian's solution: hypocritical "republic," which is actually an autocracy.
1. 27 B.C. republic "restored"
2. Octavian given a "few" special powers, which really amount to absolute
control over
government
a. Control over army, treasury
b. Elaborate theoretical basis disguises true basis of power: force!
c. Octavian also gets many honors, including new name: Augustus
d. Augustus is the first emperor, a modern term.
e. Augustus uses the term princeps from which comes the term for his
form of
government, principate.
f. Augustus' success in reconciling various groups to the new order.
D. Octavian's solution: a pragmatic success.
1. Reconciliation of various elements
a. Senators
b. Equestians
c. Commons
d. Provincials
e. Freedmen
f. Intellectuals
1. Vergil
2. Livy
3. Ovid
2. Return of peace and prosperity.
3. Pax Romana, c. 27 B.C.-A.D. 180
4. "Good Emperors" of the second century A.D. as height of Empire.
III. Culture of the Roman Empire
A. Urbanization
B. Art and architecture
C. Literature
D. Religion
E. Romanization
Lecture: Christianity
I. Sources
A. Roman sources know little about first century of Christianity.
a. Read Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny the Younger.
B. Jewish sources know little of first century of Christianity.
a. Read Josephus.
C. Small sect in obscure, poverty-ridden, unimportant province.
D. Need to go to New Testament for information.
a. N.T. basics
1. Greek.
2. Collection of documents: 4 biographies, 1 continuation (Acts), 21
letters, 1 book
of prophesy (Revelation).
3. Authorship of most uncertain.
b. Selection process
1. There were other gospels, epistles, books of prophesy.
2. Selection/elimination due to age, authority, quality, usefulness, and
???
3. Those kept:
a. Written in second half of first century A.D.
1. Dying off of witnesses probably important factor.
b. Selected by use of Churches first-third century A.D.
II. Minimal outline of early Christianity
A. Minimal outline virtually all can agree upon.
1. Obviously, much room for varying additional interpretation.
B Outline
1. Judaea was a disturbed, chaotic province of the Roman Empire.
2. Many different ideas of what would happen among Jewish population.
3. Number of prophets, would-be political and spiritual leaders.
4. Jesus (Yoshua) appears and preaches, gaining some followers.
5. Put to death by the Romans to satisfy the religiously conservative elements
in society.
6. Some (not all) become convinced that Jesus rose from the dead.
7. Group begins to organize around this belief.
8. Initially, what will become Christianity was WITHIN Judaism and hoped to
BECOME
STANDARD JUDAISM.
9. Despite some converts, Christianity fails to takeover Judaism.
10. Paul turns emphasis toward seeking gentile converts by giving up
observance of Jewish Law,
including circumcision and dietary regulations.
11. Since observation of Jewish Law, particularly circumcision, defines
Judaism, this leads to
break between Christianity and Judaism.
12. This was undoubtedly hastened by unsuccessful Jewish Revolt against
Rome.
III. Growth of Christianity
A. For a long time, obscure and unimportant.
B. Slow initial growth in numbers, though wide geographic spread.
C. First come to notice of wider world c. 100 A.D.
D. Subject to misunderstanding
1. Bases of misunderstanding: exclusivity of Christianity vs. inclusivity of
pagan religions; mos
majorum; dangers of being identifable minority.
2. Misunderstandings: criminal, atheistic, cannibalistic, sexually immoral,
communistic, antisocial.
E. Persecutions
1. Much fewer and smaller than generally imagined.
2. Several types
a. Mob actions: irregular, often in times of crisis.
b. Central government persecution: none until 250, then no more
until c. 300.
3. Never serious danger--actually promotes the religion.
F. Growth
1. Slight growth during Pax Romana (1st-2nd centuries A.D.)
2. Third Century
1. Political military chaos, break down of empire, bad times.
a. Sketch to time of Valerian and Gallienus.
b. Valerian and Gallienus.
c. Sketch of Illyrian Emperors
2. Appeal of absolutist creed in times of troubles.
IV. Competition
A. Isis: appeals to women and family, but marginal to men.
B. Mithras: appeals to men, but little to women.
C. Cybele: emotional appeal, but hard to recruit priests
D. Divine emperors: genuine appeal, but less when things go bad.
E. None are absolutist; thus all are more acceptable to authorities, but less
meaningful to followers.
V. Diocletian and Constantine
A. Diocletian
1. Background.
2. Reforms
1. Administrative organization
a. Model for later Church organization
2. Army
3. Tetrarchy
4. Dominate (Dominus) replaces Principate (Princeps).
5. Great Persecution
6. Retirement
B. Constantine
1. Backgound
2. Abolition of Tetrarchy
3. Completion of other reforms
4. Moves capitol to Constantinople
5. Adoption of Christianity
1. Myth of Constantine's Vision
2. Practical motive and/or personal conviction ?
3. Christianity first tolerated, then favored; eventually (395) paganism
outlawed.
4. Conversion of tens of millions in short time.
VI. Success brings new problems
A. Problem of absorbing many new converts, not all sincere, not all knowledgeable.
B. Problem of how to utilize newly acquired imperial coercive power.
UNIT VII: THE MAKING OF EUROPE
Objectives: Understand the elements of continuity and change in early medieval Europe,
particularly the roles of Germanic culture, the Church, the Byzantine Empire, and Islam.
Reading: McKay Chapter 7
Study Guide:
1. Define (who, what, where, when, why, how, significance): Volkerwanderungen, Huns,
Visigoths, wergeld, Anglo-Saxons, Clovis, Arius, Athanasius, Ambrose, pope, Catholic,
Augustine, monasticism, Benedict, Byzantine Empire, Justinian, Mecca, Mohammed, Arab,
Koran, Islam, Muslim, Allah, Beowulf.
2. Where in the Roman Empire did the chief Germanic tribes settle?
3. Was the pope always the leader of the entire church? If not, how did the position
develop?
4. How did Christian attitudes toward classical culture change in the course of time?
5. Augustine's City of God offered a Christian theory of history. What was it and what
importance has it had?
6. What importance did Benedictine monasteries have for early medieval society?
7. What importance did the Byzantine Empire have for western Europe?
8. In what ways is Islam similar to Christianity and Judaism?
9. What importance did the Islamic world have for western Europe?
Chronological Outline
430
Death of Augustine
476
End of the Roman Empire in the West
565
Death of Justinian
632
Death of Mohammed
Lecture: The Barbarians and the Fall of the Roman Empire
I. Review of Diocletian and Constantine
A. Principate gives way to Dominate.
B. Christian Roman Empire
II. New strains on Christianity: strains of success and power.
A. Absorbing millions of new converts.
B. Need to expand and regularize organization.
C. Need to come to terms with potential of coercive power of government
now at the command of the Church.
D. Heresy
1. Two definitions of heresy
a. Church definition: "wilful belief in theological error."
b. Pragmatic definition: non-standard religion
2. Divisions within Christianity from earliest days.
3. Before Constantine, heresy dealt with by argument.
4. Now, coercive power of state (i.e. military power) available.
5. Case study: Donatists
a. North Africa
b. Argument over whether defectors can return and resume control of
Church.
c. Those who remained faithful make tactical error: deny efficacy of
forgiveness
d. This weakens Church's power of discipline
e. Declared heretics, Constantine sends troops to suppress.
f. Africa erupts in decades long civil war, destructive of ancient
civilization.
6. Case study: Arian heresy
a. Orgins in personalities, backgrounds, ambitions of Arius and
Athanasius.
b. Focuses on problem of trinity
1. Arius: before the beginning of time, God the Father created
the Logos, who
became Jesus upon his manifestation on earth, who
created the Holy Spirit.
2. Athanasius: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit
are eternal,
neither created nor creating. They are three distinct
entities and yet they are
also all the same.
c. Conflict spreads throughout the eastern part of the Church.
d. Constantine tries to settle: Council of Nicaea.
e. Conflict spreads throughout society and becomes the focus of many
other
unarticulated conflicts.
f. Drags on for years, dividing society, leading to riots,
persecutions, deaths, societal degeneration.
7. Significance of heresies
a. Divides and weakens society.
b. Distracts from pressing problems in real world: barbarians
III. Barbarians
A. Sources
1. Caesar
2. Tacitus
B. Roman-barbarian interaction: Romanization and barbarization
C. Barbarian culture before invasions
D. Barbarians weak compared to Eternal Rome.
E. Eruption of Huns
1. Non-German
2. Appear 372
3. Culture
4. Drive Visigoths into Empire in 376
F. Roman mistreatment of Visigoths leads to Adrianople.
G. Visigoths return to reservation
H. Indian Summer of the Roman Empire, 382-395.
I. 395: Visigoths on the Warpath.
1. Division of the Empire
2. Visigoths shunted into western Empire
3. Constantine III revolts in Britain and Gaul
4. Troops pulled off Rhine, which is entrusted to Franks.
5. 406 Germans cross the Rhine in huge numbers.
J. Pattern of German settlement in Empire
1. Franks: N. France
2. Visigoths: S. France and N. Spain
3. Lombards & Ostrogoths: Italy
4. Vandals: N. Africa and S. Spain
5. Angles & Saxons: Britain
6. NOTE: EASTERN EMPIRE REMAINS INTACT (BYZANTINE EMPIRE)
K. Mechanics of Germanic settlement
1. Accomodation with existing Romans
2. No desire to destroy or even replace Romans and Roman culture
3. Persistance of Latin over most of area
4. Arian/Catholic split tends to separate Romans and barbarians
L. Franks
1. Clovis 486-511
a. Unifies area, only to divide it upon his death
b. Converts to Catholic Christianity, setting stage for complete cultural
blending of
barbarian and Roman.
2. Later Merovingians
a. Recurring pattern of unity and disunity.
IV. Interpretation
A. "Decline and Fall"
1. Mere circumstancial account seems inadequate; search for broader
meaning.
2. Inadequate explanations
a. Corruption (TV preachers)
b. Quasi-racial (Tenny Frank)
c. Economic
d. Population (Arthur Boak)
e. Christianity (Edward Gibbon)
f. Decline of Elite (Michael Rostovtzeff)
g. Lead Poisoning
3. Complexity of problem
4. Possibly important cause: loss of loyalty and commitment
5. Redefinition of problem: Henri Pirenne
6. Distinction between Fall of Roman Empire and End of Ancient Civilization
a. Barbarian kingdoms mini-Roman Empires
b. Little actually changed by end of Empire
7. Essential characteristic of Roman Empire: Mediterranean centered.
8. Essential characteristic of Medieval heirs to Roman Empire: three separate
worlds, Western
Europe/Byzantine World/Islam, separated by Mediterranean.
9. Problem becomes how did Mediterranean unity break up?
a. Long process
b. Beginning c. 200 A.D.
c. Complete c. 800 A.D.
d. Many factors
10. Represents an essential shift in Western Civilization.
Lecture: Byzantium
I. Disappearance of Roman control in the West, 395-480
II. Survival of Roman state in East
A. Why?
1. Richer, stronger than the West
2. Conscious sacrifice of West to preserve East?
3. East less exposed to barbarian inroads
B. Term "Byzantine"
1. 16th century western
2. Byzantines think of selves as Romans
3. Define
C. Strengths
1. Big population
2. Numerous cities
3. Wealth
D. Could these strengths be used to rebuild the Roman Empire?
III. Justinian (527-565)
A. Nephew of rude soldier who became emperor
B. Little culture himself, but great vigor
C. Aided by Theodora
1. Origins
2. Slandered by Procopius
D. Great ambition: Restore Roman Empire!
1. Attacks North African Vandals
a. Dynastic dispute provides opportunity
b. Vandals collapse within a year!
2. Invasion of Spanish Visigoths
a. Initial success
3. Invasion of Italy
a. Within 5 years, conquers north to Po river
E. Domestic Policies
1. Army reforms, great fortifications and garrisons
2. Administrative reforms
a. Trim dead wood
b. Tighten organization
3. Assumes high degree of control of Church in East
4. Great building progams: Hagia Sophia in Istanbul
5. Corpus Iuris Civilis
1. Chief vehicle for preservation of Roman Law
2. Transmits Roman Law to West and later ages
F. Evaluation
1. Wars
a. Some territorial gains, but small and relatively short lived
b. Tremendous destruction for Italy
c. Tremendous cost for Byzantines
2. Army reforms reversed by economic shortage caused by wars
3. Administrative reforms undermined by needs for money
4. Building programs produced non-wealth producing buildings, such as
Churches.
5. Even Corpus iuris Civilis is little good to Byzantines, being in Latin and
Byzantine world will
soon be all Greek.
6. Overall evaluation: Vision exceeds grasp
a. Roman Empire really dead
b. General refusal to see that
c. Continued dream of Empire, both East and West
III. Heraclius (610-642)
A. Essential to understanding rise of Islam
B. Byzantine Empire attacked by Slavs and Persians
1. Slavs overrun Balkans, Greece
2. Persians overrun Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Anatolia
3. Byzantine Empire reduced to Constantinople
4. Heraclius brilliant, bloody raids into Persia
5. Byzantine generals take on Slavs
6. Revolution in Persia; Persia sues for peace.
7. Byzantines rebuild empire.
8. Both Byzantines and Persians utterly weak
9. Heraclius cracks mentally
10. At this point, Arabs under influence of new Islam expand suddenly out of
Arabia.
11. End of the reign
IV. Later Byzantine Empire--political history
A. Lombards invade and take most of Italy
B. Slavs overrun Balkans and much of Greece--Byzantine holding there
fluxuate
C. Arabs salami slice away in East
D. After 1000, Turks show up and conquer most of Anatolia.
F. Stabbed in back by western Crusaders in 1208.
G. Mid fourteenth century, Turks take Greece.
H. 1453: Turks take Constantinople, ending Byzantine Empire.
V. Byzantine Empire: Cultural history
A. Center of learning.
B. Economically advanced over west.
C. Its own culture evolved ever farther from Roman origins
D. Development of its own distinctive eastern Christian culture,
far more sophisticed and civilized beyond the Latin West.
1. Illustrative story: Liuprand of Cremona visits Constantinople
in 949.
VI. Significance of Byzantine Empire to western civilization
A. Preserved ancient learning of Greeks and Romans
B. Its own sophisticated culture tutored western Europe.
C. It mediated much of Islamic culture to western Europe
D. Served as a trading partner for Europe, especially enriching Italy
E. Served as a shield against the expansion of Islam across Eastern Europe.
Lecture: Islam
I. Arabia before Islam
A. Long settled
B. Civilization combination of ancient near East, Greco-Roman, native Arabic
C. Religions: pagan, Christianity, Judaism
D. Tension between bedouin and townsmen
E. Population excess in early 7th century?
II. Mohammed
A. Ordinary man
B. Visited by Angel Gabriel, to give Mohammed, final revelation
C. Converts family, lower classes, some rich merchants
D. Persecuted
E. Hegira
1. Invited to Medina
2. Friday, 16 July 622: Hegira
3. Welcomed as relgious leader
4. Able to develop ideas fully
F. Returns to Mecca
1. Cleanses kaaba of corrupt pagan practices.
G. Dies in 632
1. 1/3 Arabia united
2. First border incursions v. Persians and Byzantines
3. Created the new religon of Islam
III. Islam
A. Name of religion: Islam (Submission [to God])
B. Member of the religion: Muslim [or Moslem] (One who submits [to God])
C. Koran: sacred book of Islam
1. 114 chapters
2. Few dictated by Mohammed
3. Many remembered
4. Opening prayer, then organized by length
5. Regarded as word of God transmitted to Mohammed by Gabriel
6. Central role in Islamic culture
a. basis of law, daily life, communal living
b. unites by language
c. school book
7. Concerns
a. God (Allah): attributes, powers, realtions to man
b. Day of judgment; heaven and hell
c. Cast of characters: angels (genii), Adam, Noah, Abraham,
Moses, David, Solomon, Elijah, Job, Zachariah, Alexander the Great (!),
John the
Baptist, Mary, Jesus--all regarded as prophets. Also Devil and
rebel genii, heaven and
hell.
8. Message: Personal salvation if available to the righteous; the path to
righteousness is revealed
in the Koran given to Mohammed.
9. Dogma
a. basically simple
b. There is no God but God and Mohammed is His prophet
c. The Koran is the revealed word of God
10. Duties: Five Pillars of Islam
a. Open profession of faith: There is no God but God and Mohammed is
His prophet
b. Regular prayer; Not specified in Koran, but ritual soon develops
c. Giving of charity
d. Fasting: especially during the lunar month Ramadan
e. Pilgrimage to Mecca, if possible
11. Strengths
a. Simplicity
b. Understandable God
c. Straightforward dogma and duties
d. Understandable rewards and duties
e. Moving and inspiring holy scripture
IV. Expansion, 632-650
A. Crisis at the death of Mohammed: unite around a leader with the title of Calif
(representative or vicar, of God)
B. Within two years, Arabia united
C. Within ten years, Islam conquers Persian Empire into Pakistan, and from the
Byzantine Empire: Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Cyrene.
D. By 650, Islam takes Cyprus and challenges Byzantines for naval supremacy in the
eastern
Mediterranean
E. Reasons for expansion
1. religious inspiration
2. Mutual exhaustion of Persians and Byzantines
3. Humanity of Islam
4. Tax and other advantages of becoming Muslim
V. Omayyad Califate, c. 650-750
A. Internal history
1. Hereditary Califate replaces elective
2. Triumph of urban aristocracy over desert bedouin
B. Slower expansion
1. Across North Africa
2. Spain
a. First entry: 710
b. Gib-al-Tarik and conquest: 711
c. Muslim Spain, 711-1492
3. France
a. Entry: 718
b. Potiers: 732
c. After 732 activity in Sicily, Italy, S. France, even Switzerland
d. Disunity makes real European conquest impossible
4. First penetration of sub-Sahara Africa
C. Extent of Islam c. 750: From Byzantine Empire: Spain, North Africa, Egypt,
Palestine, Syria; from
Persian Empire: Mesopotamia, Persia, Pakistan; Indus River
valley, Samarkand to borders of China.
D. Strengths
1. Unity: religious, linguistic, cultural, compounded from many heritages
2. Developed, prosperous economy
3. Advanced urbanization
4. Advanced scholarship, science, leaning, literature.
E. Weaknesses
1. Political disunity
2. Potential religious conservatism
F. Contrast with contemporary western Europe.
UNIT VIII: THE CAROLINGIAN WORLD
Objectives: You should learn how feudalism worked and the significance of Charlemagne
and his Carolingian Renaissance.
Readings: McKay Chapter 8
Study Guide:
1. Define (who, what, where, when, why, how, significance): Henri Pirene, feudalism, fief,
vassal, serf, manorialism, mayor of the Palace, Carolingian, Charles Martel, Charlemagne,
Carolingian Renaissance, Beowulf, Alcuin, Vikings, Normandy, Magyars.
2. In what sense can the ancient world be said to have ended in the eighth century?
3. Feudalism involves mutual obligations. What does a lord give to a vassal? What does a
vassal give to a lord?
4. Why did serfdom grow in early medieval Europe?
5. What did Charlemagne accomplish in the following areas: territorial expansion,
government, intellectual revival?
6. What is the significance of the imperial coronation of Charlemagne?
7. What happened to Charlemagne's empire after his death? Did this in any way create
conditions that encouraged the activities of the Vikings and Magyars?
Chronological Outline
814
Death of Charlemagne
800-1000
Break up of the Carolingian Empire, Vikings and Magyars, rise of feudalism
Lecture: The Franks Through Charlemagne
I. Definition of Early Middle Ages.
A. 500-1000
B. Replacement of ancient Mediterranean unity with new Northern European unity.
C. Breakdown of much of Roman heritage despite attempt to preserve it.
D. Preservation of much of Roman heritage.
E. Integration of two waves of barbarians, c. 500 and c. 900.
II. Situation in Europe c. 500 A.D.
A. Western half of Roman Empire replaced by barbarian kingdoms
B. Eastern half remains intact, now called Byzantine Empire
C. Mediterranean Unity (Pirenne Thesis) remains intact; western barbarian kingdoms
are mini-Roman
Empires.
D. Barbarian rulers wish to regularize positions with Byzantines, not destroy Roman
civilization.
E. Pattern of German settlement in Empire
1. Franks: N. France
2. Visigoths: S. France and N. Spain
3. Lombards & Ostrogoths: Italy
4. Vandals: N. Africa and S. Spain
5. Angles & Saxons: Britain
F. Barbarians and Romans interact
1. No attempt to wipe out or drive out Romans
2. In self-interest of barbarians to preserve Romans
a. Like Roman lifestyle and products
b. Like Roman political structures (such as tax system)
3. Deals cut between barbarians and Romans
a. Typically, barbarians take 1/3 of biggest land holdings to settle on
1. Preserves Roman elite
2. Emergence of Barbarian elites
4. Persistence of much of Roman culture and Romance languages
5. Gradual degeneration of Roman culture
6. Barrier to total assimilation: Arian/Catholic (Athanasian) split
III. Franks
A. Initial disorganization
B. Romans accidentally provide organization for tribe.
C. When enter Empire, weakly organized into several subgroups
D. Initially pagan
E. Clovis, 486-511
1. Low level of culture
a. Gregory of Tours' story of holy water container
2. Inital unification of Gaul
3. Conversion to Catholic Christianity
a. Story of motivation parallel to Constantine
b. Doubtful if understood Christianity well
c. Mass converstion of Franks
d. Last barrier to mixing of Roman and barbarian removed
4. Will divides Merovingian territories among sons.
a. Kingdom perceived as private possession, like socks and swords
F. Pattern of later Merovingian rulers
1. Struggle to expand control during life
a. Wars
b. Murders
c. Marriage alliances
2. Kingdoms divided at death
a. Persistence of private concept of kingdom
b. Quality of rulers varies greatly
3. Effects of squabbles
a. Disruption of society
b. Weakness of kingdom
c. intermarrage and degeneracy (?) or Merovingian family
4. Degeneracy of later Merovingians
a. Apparently physical
b. Real power falls into hands of Maior Domo=Mayor of the
Palace=Butler.
1. Pepin of Heristal and centralization of power
2. Charles Martel and defeat of Muslims 732
5. Maior domo Pepin the Short replaces Merovingians with Carolingians
a. Pepin gets permission of Pope to depose last Merovingian
IV. Development of the Papacy
A. Origins of Papacy: Petrine Theory
B. Other claimants to leadership all in East
C. As imperial power recedes, Papacy assumes increased secular power in West.
D. Gradual
development of claims and of real power.
E. Chief problem: Catholic Papacy surrounded by Arian barbarians
F. Natural alliance between Catholic Franks and Papacy.
G. Alliance becomes traditional even after Arianism fades away.
H. Approval of Pepin's request of interest to the papacy also.
V. Charlemagne
A. 768-814
B. Personality: tall, fat, unexhaustable womanizer, great respect for learning and
culture.
C. Conquest of Lombards in northern Italy
1. Finishing work of Pepin the Short
2. Ensured safety of the papacy
D. Conquest of Germany
1. 32 years of campaigning against Saxons
2. Christianizes much of Germany
E. Against Muslims
1. Chases them out of southern France
2. Attacks them in Spain
a. Beginning of Reconquista
b. Genesis of the Song of Roland
F. Development of governmental machinery toward ideal of government by laws
rather than persons
G. Court becomes center for art and learning: i.e. Alcuin.
H. Christmas 800: Charlemagne becomes Emperor.
I. Weakness: too much depends on Charlemagne himself.
J. He makes France rich but leaves it to weak sucessors.
Lecture: Late Carolingians, Vikings, and Magyars
I. Heirs of Charlemagne
A. Charlemagne's empire was a personal achievement
B. Leaves empire to son Louis the Pious, who divides it among sons
C. Like Merovingians earlier, Carolingians now spend futile time and effort in intrigue
and civil wars as
the family reunites and redivides the empire time after time.
1. Later Carolingians are largely inept rulers
a. Note knicknames: Bald, Stammerer, Fat, Child, Simple
2. Rise of local nobles
a. Origins in officials who now take power, old tribal leaders, old Roman
leaders,
strongmen
b. Military in character
3. Defense of empire decays, in the face of new threats from Vikings,
Magyars, Muslims, and
ambitious local nobles.
II. Vikings
A. Scandanavians: Denamark, Norway, Sweden
B. Pagan
C. Population explosion?
D. Carolingian wealth and weakness attracts them
E. Raids
1. Begin around 800; great period over by 1000
2. Raids coasts of Germany, France, Scotland, Ireland, England, Spain, North
Africa, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, up rivers into Russia, even into Mediterranean,
and against Byzantine Empire.
F. Trading
1. In all same areas.
2. Often raid where weak, like France, and trade where strong,
like Muslim Spain.
G. Settle
1. Ireland, Scotland, England.
2. France: Normandy
3. Russia emerges out of blend of native Slav, Viking, and Byzantine
culture.
1. Down Dnieper to Black Sea
2. Body guards to Byzantine Emperors
3. Story of the Great Circle Trip
4. Iceland, Greenland, abortive North American discoveries
H. Gradual introduction of Christianity
III. Magyars
A. Last barbarian migration into Europe
B. Non-Indo-European
C. Ancestors of modern Hungarians
D. Fierce light cavalry
E. Act like land-Vikings
F. Beaten on battlefield and eventually Christianized
IV. Muslims
A. Continued dominance of Spain
C. Gains in Sicily and S. Italy
D. Raids into France
E. Growing power of Europe neutralizes their threat by c. 1000
V. Summation of Early Middle Ages, c. 500-1000
A. Long and hard period of European weakness
B. Charlemagne divides the period in half and provided hope and a model
C. By 1000, all European peoples in place and almost all Christianized, and the two
key institutions
of the Middle Ages are welldeveloped: Feudalism and Church
Lecture: Feudalism
I. State of Europe 850-1000
A. External attacks
1. Vikings
2. Magyars
3. Muslims
B. Break down of centralized Carolingian administration
C. Rise of local nobility and associated disorder
D. Needs
1. Regional defense
2. Local defense
3. Administration of justice and government on local level
E. Governing factors
1. Absolute weakness of central authority
2. Absence of money economy
3. Importance of land and people to farm land.
4. Dominance of professional armored horse warriors (=knights)
II. Feudalism
A. Solution: Feudalism:
A system of decentralized organization of defense and goverance provided by establishing
personal relationships among nobles through ceremonial acts (homage, fealty). These
personal relationships createa hierarchy (lord, vassal, vassalage) through which mutual
obligations are established: the lord giving to his vassal support in the form of a fief and
protection, while the vassal gives to his lord military service and loyalty. Feudal relations
are established among nobles of many levels, so most nobles are BOTH vassals and lords at
the same time. This multi-layered nature of feudal relations create a feudal pyramid.
B. How does this solve society's problems?
1. The feudal pyramid allows the raising of sizable armies of trained knights,
who beat Vikings,
Magyars, Muslims.
2. Lower levels of pyramid provide for local defense
a. Feudal pyramid provides some mechanism for settling disputes
among nobility
b. Lord defends his fief and can call upon his lord and vassals (if any)
c. Still much higher level of violence in medieval society than in modern
society
3. Provides justice and governance
a. Lord exercises justice and governance on fief
b. Feudal pyramid provides justice among nobility
1. Two vassals of same lord
2. Lord vs. vassal
a. Jury of peers
3. Remaining problems: if contending nobles belong to differing
feudal
pyramids
c. Justice is on the basis of custom: common law
III. Feudal Society (as distinct from feudalism)
A. Classes
1. Nobles
a. Romantic view exaggerates quality of life
b. Romantic castles vs. squalid reality
2. Clergy
a. Largely recruited from nobility
b. Clerical celibacy as pragmatic means to keep nobility from making
control of the
Church hereditary in families
c. Believed to be essential for continuing existence of world
3. Peasants
a. Distinctly separate from nobles
b. Several statuses
c. Often live on Manor which is some nobles' fief or part of a fief
1. Serfs are bound to land but cannot be expelled
2. Collective farming, with certain strips to particular peasant
families and
certain strips to lord.
3. Peasants live under feudalism but are not part of any feudal
pyramid
4. Under jurtisdiction for justice and governance of the lord on
whose fief they
live.
5. Static existance, little travel or opportunity
6. Frequent scarcity, poverty
4. Townspeople
a. Do not fit in abstract pattern
b. Actually there
c. Ambiguous position requires them to look out for themselves
SAMPLE EXAM II
This sample exam covers Units IV-VIII. This is a typical exam, but it certainly does not
contain all or even the majority of possible questions. It is meant to be a means of selftesting. If you can take this exam and do well, you probably can do well on the actual exam,
but merely answering the questions in this exam is by no means sufficient preparation for
taking the actual exam.
History 101: Exam II
Section
1. ____:
2. ____:
3. ____:
4. ____:
5. ____:
Name_________________________
III: Place the correct number in the space by the area to be identified:
Rome
Carthage
Constantinople
Mecca
Homeland of the Vikings
SECTION III
In this section you will find the materials necessary to prepare for Exam III: Units IX-XIII,
Sample Exam III
UNIT IX: REVIVAL, RECOVERY, AND REFORM
Objectives: Learn how Europe recovered prosperity toward the year 1000, and the role
played by towns and the Church in the new prosperity.
Reading: McKay Chapter 9.
1. Define (who, what, where, when, why, how, significance): William the Conqueror, Otto I,
Holy Roman Empire, burgher, bourgeois, town liberties, guilds, Venice, Cluny, Hildebrand,
Gregory VII, "freedom of the church," lay investiture, Henry IV, Innocent III
2. What factors led to an increase in political stability?
3. What factors led to economic recovery?
4. What factors led to revival within the Church?
5. What was the purpose of the Crusades? What did they actually achieve?
Chronological Outline
c. 900-1000
General revival of Europe.
1085
Death of Gregory VII
Lecture: Germany and the Investiture Controversy
I. German 800-900
A. Breakdown of Carolingian centralism
B. Rise of local nobles
C. Raids of Vikings
D. Raids of Magyars
E. Emergence of Tribal Dukes as prime feudal leaders
F. King of Germany elected by Tribal Dukes, usually from royal family
1. Tribal Dukes do not want strong king who would limit powers
2. Germany needs strong leadership to counter threats
II. Orgins of the Holy Roman Empire
A. Carolingians die out 911
B. After Carolingins, crises force Tribal Dukes to elect strong kings.
C. King Otto III (936-973)
1. Decides to try to replace Tribal Dukes as chief vassals with bishops and
archbishops
2. Church men are able but not ambitious for secular power
3. Churchmen favored by Otto III are Church Reformers
D. Background of Church Reform
1. Church active and expansionist at time of Charlemagne
2. Church suffers after Charlemagne
a. Target of aggressors because of wealth
b. Decline in learning and morality
c. Pope emerging as de facto, as well as de jure, head of Church
3. Reform movement begins in monasteries, especially Cluny (in France,
founded 910)
a. Object: save souls
b. Object: reform monasticism to confirm to highest morality and
learning
4. Reformers exhibit zeal, organization, ability.
E. Basis of the alliance
1. German kings get able administrators not concerned with secular power to
replace jealous
Tribal Dukes
2. Reformers get power bases to pursue reform
3. Potential problem: to whome will German bishops owe prime loyalty?
F. Symbolic of alliance: Otto III granted title Holy Roman Emperor.
1. Long subsequent history of title
2. Voltaire's bon mote: "neither holy, Roman, nor an Empire."
III. Otto III-Henry III (c.950-1050)
A. Otto III's change succeeds
B. Tribal Dukes decline in importance
C. German feudal pyramid relys on bishops and archbishops as primary vassals of the
Holy Roman Emperors
D. Germany develops best organized, strongest, most prosperous feudal pyramid in
Europe
E. Reform movement spreads through Germany
F. Reform movement spreads from Germany to Papacy itself through HRE
a. Henry III deposes three papal claimants and places German Reformer on
papal throne.
b. Henry III places 5 German popes on throne
c. On one trip, takes young monk Hildebrand from Cluny to Rome
G. Potential for conflict remains unresolved
IV. Henry IV
A. Succeeds as infant to HRE
B. Tribal Dukes see opportunity to restore powers
C. Long struggle to reassert imperial prorogatives
D. Ultra-sensitive about imperial prorogatives
E. Abbrasive personality
V. Hildebrand/Gregory VII
A. Relatively humble background
B. Becomes important reformer
C. 1073 elected Pope Gregory VII
D. Desires:
1. Save souls
2. Spread reform
3. Make Pope supreme in Church so can do #1 and 2.
E. Abbrasive personality
"He is a Holy Satan, who shows the pity of Nero, carasses by boxing, and
sooths by stroking
with an eagle's talon."
F. Gregory VII determines to take back supreme loyalty of German bishops and
archbishops
1. Implication for Church
a. Only thusly will Chuch be master of own house
b. Only when master of own house can Church save souls efficiently
and reform self
sufficiently.
2. Implications for HRE:
a. If Holy Roman Emperor looses control of bishops, it will destroy
feudal organization
of Germany
VI. Investiture Controversy
A. Gregory VII issues Dictatus Papae
1. "The Roman Church has never erred nor will it err to all eternity."
2. The Pope "may be judged by no one."
3. The Pope may depose bishops
4. The Pope may absolve subjects of fealty to wicked men.
5. The Pope may depose emperors.
6. In essence, the Pope claims a higher position than the HRE.
B. Gregory claims LAY INVESTITURE is illegal
1. Define
2. Implications: he who invests determines who is bishop; he who determines
who is bishop
appoints people loyal to him.
C. Henry IV answers:
"Henry, emperor not through usurpation but through the Holy Ordination of
God, to
Hildebrand, false monk,...Thou therefore art damned..by the judgment
of all our bishops and
by our own. Descend and relinquish the apostolic chair
which thou has usurped. Let
another ascend trhe throne of St. Peter, who shall
not practice violence under the
cloak of religion, but shall teach the sound
doctrine of St. Peter. I, Henry, King by Grace of
God, do say unto thee,
together with all our bishops, decscend, descend, be damned
throughout the Ages.
D. Gregory VII deposes and excommunicates Henry IV
1. Unity of Church in Germany shattered
2. Opportunity for Tribal Dukes and other nobles to rebel
3. Germany reduced to chaos
E. Henry IV surprizes Pope at Canossa, January 1077.
1. Three days in snow
2. Pope must forgive penitent sinner
3. Restored, Henry continues battle
F. Gregory VII has rebel nobles unelect Henry IV
1. Gregory VII recognizes new king, deposes and excommunicates Henry IV
2. Henry IV kills rival in battle
G. Henry IV invades Italy
1. Captures Rome
2. Gregory VII flees Rome, collapses on road and dies: "I have loved justice
and hated iniquity
and therefore die an exile."
3. Decisive moment in Investiture Controversy: Henry IV has lost public
sympathy
H. Investiture Controversy continues
1. Henry IV survives to 1106, but never regains order.
2. In effect, shift of public opinion has decided the issue.
VII. Results
A. For Germany
1. Feudal pyramid of the HRE shattered
2. HRE goes ever weaker and less organized throughout the rest of the Middle
Ages
3. Germany comes into the modern world disunited and without welldeveloped national
political institutions
B. For Church
1. Church has reclaimed allegance of bishops and archbishops of Germany
2. Church has stood up to and broken most powerful secular leader
3. Church assumes leadership of Europe 1100-1300
a. Example: Gregory VII succeeded by Cluniac monk Urban II who
launches Crusades
Lecture: England to Magna Carta
I. Early Britain
A. Romans pull out c.400
B. Angles, Saxons, and other Germanic tribes pour in.
1. English is Germanic language
C. In face of Germanic invasions, Christianity retreats to Ireland
1. Brilliant art and literacy of Irish monasteries
2. Irish monks spread Christianity back to England
D. By time of Charlemagne, England is Christian and organized in a number of
different kingdoms
E. Britain badly hit by Viking raids
F. Many Vikings settle in Britain
G. By mid-eleventh century, England (but not Wales or Scotland) united into a single
kingdom
II. Norman Conquest
A. Anglo-Saxon King Edward the Confessor promises throne to Harold of England;
William the Bastard,
Duke of Normandy; Harald of Norway also has claim on throne.
B. Upon Edward's death, Harold of England grabs throne, Harald of Norway and
William of Normandy
invade.
C. Harold destroys Harald in north and makes epic march south to near Hastings
D. Battle: William becomes William the Conqueror, King of England (and still Duke of
Normandy)
III. Three great Medieval Kings of England
A. William the Conqueror: Creator of Strong English Feudalism
1. Normands now masters of England
2. Lands of all who fought for Harold forfit
3. Most Anglo-Saxon nobles dead or in exile or will be soon
4. William the Conqueror can impose whatever govenment he wants
a. William imposes well-organized feudal pyramid
b. Does not impose better system because he, a medieval man, is
familiar with only
feudalism
5. Symbolic of the strength of William's government: Domesday Census
6. Final evaluation: He (William) excelled all rulers of his time im magnamity
and wisdom,
never detered from any enterprize by toil or danger, who was equally
able to cope with
adversity
and prosperity. He was temperate in eating and
drinking and so disliked drunkeness
that he seldom
had more than three
bottles of wine after dinner.
B. Henry I (1100-1135): Creator of Strong Royal Finances
1. William leaves England to William II Rufus, Normandy to Robert, and money
to Henry.
2. Henry soon ends up with all.
3. Devoted to creating strrong financial basis for monarchy
a. If have money, can rent mercenaries for longer than feudal service.
b. Efforts to to convert personal feudal dues to money payments
c. Stringent control of moneyers!
d. Development of Exchequer
4. Leaves only Matilda at death.
5. Destructive civil war between Matilda and Steven 1135-1154
C. Henry II: Origins of English Law
1. Son of Matilda
2. Early career
3. Marries Elenore of Aquitaine
a. Duchess of important province
b. Earlier married to King of France-annuled
c. Conduct on crusade
d. Combines Normandy with Aquitane and picks up much of rest of
France.
e. Controls more of France than King of France
f. Problematic marrage
1. Four sons
2. Elenore stirs up Great Revolt of 1173/4
3. Elenore ends up under house arrest for years
4. Her long survival and subsequent career
4. Lasting work of Henry II: Law
a. Enforces idea that King of England should enforce criminal law
1. All nobles are part of the feudal pyramid he heads
2. Non-nobles live on fiefs of nobility
3. Thus, all offenses are offenses against the King.
b. Develops new and pre-existing institutions into effective lawenforcement agencies
1. Itinerant judges
2. Sworn inquest (ancestor of Grand Jury)
a. lawful men of a locality gathered together and sworn to
tell if they
knew of any crimes.
3. Royal writes (ancestor of Writ of Mandamus)
4. Beginning of formulation of Common Law
5. Henry II and Church
a. Parallel to HRE, but of much less importance since England's feudal
pyramid not
based on bishops.
b. Henry II puts old friend in as Archbishop of Cantebury: Thomas
Becket.
c. Becket becomes ardent supporter of Church
d. Henry confronts Becket with list, to which Becket first agrees, then
disagrees.
e. Becket in exile for six years.
f. Reconciliation--Beck returns to England--but matter of criminous
clerks remains and
comes to head
g. Henry makes drunken remark; Becket killed
h. Henry threatened with excommunication
i. Henry whipped publically and has to admit Church trial of clerics and
appeal to papal
courts.
j. Really has little long range effect on England
6. Henry II begins English conquest of Ireland.
IV. England at the time of the death of Henry II
A. Strongly united
B. Strongly governed
C. Beginnings of national institutions
D. Strong enough to survive poor rulers
E. Growth towards strong, united country now almost automatic.
V. Richard the Lionhearted 1189-1199
A. Sets the pattern for English kings over the next century: active but inept
B. Spends most time and money away from England on Crusades
VI. John 1199-1216
A. John Lackland and John Softsword
B. Tries to centralize administration at the expense of the traditional nobility
C. Looses most of French holdings accumulated by Henry II
D. Barons' Revolt
1. At Runnymede 1215 forced to sign Magna Carta
2. Role of Magna Carta in imagination vs. reality of Magna Carta
3. "No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or
banished or in
any way destroyed nor will we go against him or send against
him except by the legal judgment
of his peers and by the law of the land." I.e. the
King is under the law, not above it.
4. "To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny, or delay the right of
justice." I.e. the right
to an impartial, full, and fair trial.
VII. Henry III 1216-1272
A. Wits of Richard; charm of John
B. Wastes time and resources.
1. Fruitless attempts to regain French lands
2. Inept meddling in European politics
3. Sinks hopelessly in debt
4. Must turn to barons (define) for help.
VIII. Richard, John, Henry III are poor kings, yet governmental institutions still growing, due
to firmly established traditions.
UNIT X: LIFE IN CHRISTIAN EUROPE IN THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES
Objective: The student should pay attention to how people lived in the Middle Ages and to
the roles that the various classes played in society.
Reading: McKay Chapter 10
1.Define: peasant, slave, serf, manor, demesne, chain mail, knight, noble, monk.
2. What were the three classes of medieval society? Why was each felt necessary?
3. What was the difference between a slave and a serf? Were the conditions of all serfs the
same? Were all peasants serfs?
4. What was a manor? How did agricultural methods improve during the High Middle Ages?
5. What role did the local church play in daily life? What roles did monasteries serve in
society?
UNIT
XI:
GOVERNMENT, LEARNING, AND ART IN THE HIGH
MIDDLE AGES
A. Objective: The student should come to understand how government, universities, and
artistic styles developed during the High Middle Ages.
B. Reading: McKay Chapter 11.
C. Define: William the Conqueror, Domesday Book, Philip II Augustus of France, Holy
Roman Empire, Henry I of England, Exchequer, Henry II of England, common law, jury of
trial, Thomas Becket, Magna Carta, university, Peter Abelard, Thomas Aquinas,
Romanesque, Gothic, town liberties, guilds, fairs, universities, Peter Abelard, Thoman
Aquinas, heresy
1. In what sense were medieval kingdoms the ancestors of modern nation states?
2. Why was William the Conqueror able to build a strong feudal government? What
contributions to this government did Henry I and Henry II make?
3. Was the Magna Carta an innovative or conservative document?
4. What were the origins of medieval universities?
5. What was studied in medieval universities?
6. In what ways were medieval universities similar to ISU? How different?
7. What were the characteristics of the Romanesque and Gothic styles? How did each
reflect the society that produced it?
8. What led to the revival of towns? What roles did towns serve in medieval society?
9. How did guilds resemble modern unions? How were they different?
10. How did medieval universities resemble and differ from modern American universities?
D. Chronological Outline
c. 1100-1300
High Middle Ages
1066
William conquers England
1096
First Crusade begins
1137
Work begins on the first Gothic cathedral
Lecture: Crusades
I. Europe c. 1100
A. England emerging as well-organized feudal kingdom
B. France not well organized
D. Germany disrupted by Investiture Controversy
E. Church emerging as leader of Europe
II. Meantime in the East
A. Byzantine Empire continues, beset by enemies
1. Normans take Sicily, demonstrating worth of western knights
2. Turks
a. Muslim invaders from central Asia
b. Manzikert and Jerusalem, 1071
c. Disruptions hurt western pilgrims
3. Alexis Comnenus calls on Pope for a few mercenaries
III. Urban II
A. Envisions a great crusade
1. Heal split in Christianity
2. Aid Byzantines
3. Recover Holy Lands
4. Solidify leadership of western Europe
5. Direct knighthood to Christian end
B. Council of Clermont
1. Masterful speach
2. Cries of Deus Volt
3. Call goes out throughout Europe
4. Response for varied reasons, a source of future trouble
a. Simple piety
b. Landless nobles
c. Plunder
d. Penance for sins
e. Purely personal reasons
f. Commerce
g. Adventure
IV. 1096: First Crusade
A. Gathering, including commoners and "children."
B. Arrives in Constantinople in late summer in several groups
C. "Children" and commoners quickly smashed
D. Anatolia returned to Byzantines
E. Hard fighting in Syria
F. Jerusalem captured; massacre
G. Success brings new problems
1. Many return home
2. Need for organization: feudal Kingdom of Jerusalem
a. King
b. Four counties
c. Never enough westerners
3. Aculturation of crusaders
H. Constant but insufficient trickle of new comers
I. Essential weakness of Kingdom of Jerusalem
V. 1144: Second Crusade
A. County of Odessa falls to Islam: opening of Second Crusade
B. King of France and Holy Roman Emperor lead it
C. Internal feuding and strong Muslim opposition stalemate it
D. Rise of Saladin
1. Muslim leader of Kurdish background
2. Man of wit, intelligence: doctor, poet, general, governor
3. Forced into war by Christian agression
4. Smashes Christian forces at Horns of Hattin, 1187, and captures Jerusalem
5. Sparks Third Crusade
VI. Third Crusade: Crusade of the Three Kings (1190)
A. Barbarosa drown in accident
B. Philip and Richard hate one another
C. Philip goes home
D. Saladin proves more civilized and better general
E. Christian holdings reduced to minor strip of coast
F. Fourth Crusade: Crusading Goes Sour (1202)
1. Gather at Venice
2. Sack Zara for Venetians
3. Sack Constantinople with Venetians
4. Crusade excommunicated
5. Crusaders cannibalize Byzantine Greece
VII. Later events
A. Byzantines retake Constantinople but are fatally weakened
B. Crusades persist in East until 1270 with not gain
C. Last Crusader state falls in 1291
D. Attempts to re-establish crusading continues much later
VIII. Effects
A. Expression of new power of Europe
B. Fail in prime objective
C. Familiarize Europe with worlds of Islam and Byzantines
D. Strengthen role of Church in West
E. Enriches Italy
E. Nothing new or absolute, but a quickening of interactions
Lecture: The Medieval Church 1100-1300
I. Unity of Medieval Civilization
A. Universality of feudalism and manorial system
B. Unity of economy and trade
C. Common language of educated: Latin
D. Common religion: Roman Catholic Christianity
1. Small Jewish communities condemned to marginal existance
II. Church 1100-1300
A. Emerges from Investiture Controversy as strongest force in western Europe
B. Organization
1. Pope
2. Bishops
a. In areas of many small bishoprics, there are archbishops
b. Controls a Diocese from the Cathedral
c. Spiritual duties
1. Ordain priests
2. Confirmation
3. Dedicate altars
4. Consecrate Churches
5. In sum, spiritual welfare of clergy and laity
d. Administrative duties
1. Supervise Church propery in diocese
2. Supervise clergy in diocese
a. Clergy work directly with people
3. Monasteries and nunneries
a. Governance varies
b. Source of continuing idealistic renewals within Church
4. Pope has poers much like the head of a modern company or government and
can intervene
at all levels directly
III. Role of the Church in everyday life
A. Purposes of the Church
1. Worship God
2. Enable members to be saved
b. Theory: Grace is necessary for salvation, and grace is conveyed
through the Church
by means of sacraments
C. Sacraments
1. System not fully defined until 12th century
2. Seven sacraments
a. Baptism: Washes away all sin, including original sin, giving birth into
life of Spirit and
union with Christ.
b. Confirmation: Given about age 12, welcomes into Church as adult by
formal laying
on of hands by Bishop or delegate
c. Marrage: For laity only; Church insists on consent of parties
d. Holy Orders: For clergy, ordination into priesthood
e. Penance: For sins committed after baptism, absolving a contrite
sinner of eternal
atonement.
damnation for sins through confession, absolution, and
f. Eucharist or Communicon: Central rite of the Church, repeating the
sacrifice of the
Cross. Only preformed by a priest at a consecrated altar,
the wine and bread are in
theory transubstantiated into the actual blood and
body of Christ. If the particupant
is in good moral condition and attitude, it
established a mystical communion with
Christ.
g. Extreme unction: Prayer and annointment with consecrated oil for
the dying,
normally preceeded by confession and absolution if possible
3. Notice how it tied people to the Church at the crucial junctions of
life: birth,
coming of age, marrage, death, and at repeated intervals with
Penance and
Communion.
4. Other roles in daily life
a. Social
b. Market
c. Holidays and recreations
d. Art and music
e. hope and encouragement
IV. Church developments 1100-1300, positive and negative
A. Innocent III: fullest manifestation of Papal leadership of Europe
1. Ideal of universal leadership of Church and Pope within Church
2. Achieved full control over Papal States in central Italy
3. Made vassal states of Sicily, England, Portugal, Aragon, Bulgaria, Armenia
4. Put protoge on throne of Holy Roman Empire
5. Negotiated truce in ar between England and France
6. Forced King of France to take back a wife he did not want
7. Gained right of intervention in Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland
8. Launched Fourth Crusade
9. Greatly elaborated papal bureaucracy
10. Called great Church Council
B. New Monasticism: Sts. Francis and Dominic
1. Francis calls on Friars Minor (Little Brothers) to go into the world to work
with poor and
ill rather than retreat into conventional
monastery
2. Dominic calls on Dominicans to combat heresy through education
C. Alienation
1. Church has become The Establishment
2. Increasingly, Church seen as powerful, bureaucratic, unresponsive,
repressive.
3. Underlying problem: The Church has become conservative because of its
dominant position,
but Feudal society continues to evolve, throwing the Chruch into
conflict with elements of
change.
D. Heresy
1. Growth of heresy because Church fails to fulfill spiritual needs
2. Church uses power to repress heresy
a. Heresy view as ultimate evil
b. Departs from earlier, less repressive approaches
3. Example: Albigensians
a. Obscure dualist heresy
b. Limited popularity in Southern France
c. Crusade preached against Albigensians
d. Bloody supression
4. Inquisition, conducted by Dominicans!
5. Church fails to end heresy but is brutally repressive
E. Conclusion: Church is growing ever more powerful superficially but eroding its
power base among the people.
Lecture: Medieval Thought
I. Scholasticism
A. Medieval thinkers felt philosophy and theology were in natural agreement
1. Philosophy was thought to proceed by logic from first principles established
by reason
2. Theology was thought to proceed by logic from first principles established
by revelation
B. Interests and methods of schools which teach these subjects termed scholasticism
C. Typical of scholasticism is the summa
1. exhaustive treatment
2. systematically organized
3. provides complete anyalysis of all positions for and against all arguments
II. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
A. Southern Italian
B. Dominican
C. Studied at Cologne, Paris
D. Taught at Paris, Rome, Bologna, Naples
E. Most famous works: Summa Theologica and Summa contra Gentiles
1. Systematic summary of Christian theology, co-ordinating Aristotlean logic
and Christian
theology
2. Believed there is no contradiction ever between faith and reason
3. For Aquinas, revelation can never be challenged. When logic seems to offer
a challenge it
is because logic has not been rightly understood.
4. Most influential summation of Christian theology
5. Unwillingness to follow logic makes him necessarily the apologist for status
quo, never one
to challenge the consensus.
III. John Duns Scotus (c.1266-1308)
A. Scottish Franciscan teaching at Oxford and Paris: "The Subtle Doctor."
B. Doctrine of Individuality
1. Traditional medieval philosophy emphasizes abstractions, viewing individual
objects as more
or less imperfect representations of the ideal type.
2. Duns Scotus emphasizes the peculiarity of the individual: Socrates and Plato
were both men,
sharing in common human nature, yet each was different from
the other and from all other
men.
3. It follows that rules cannot be made with absolute assurity of their justness
if the people for
whom they are made are not uniform in character, but rather
unique individuals. This
undermines
authority, promotes individualism.
4. Promotes the idea of the necessity of an individual relationship between the
individual and
God and de-emphasizes the Church's role as necessary
intercessor.
C. Theory of God
1. Duns Scotus emphasizes absolute freedom and omnipotence of God
2. God is not bound by any necessity. He is supralogic and can be
comprehended only by
revelation.
a. This undercuts Thomist attempt to understand God by reason.
b. This separates theology, the sphere of revelation, from philosophy,
the sphere of
logic.
c. In matters of religion, faith is emphasized over knowledge.
IV. William of Ockham (c. 1290/1300-1349)
A. Career
1. Taught at Oxford until 1324
2. Summonded to Avignon to answer charges of teaching erroneous doctrine
3. Defended doctrin of apostolic poverty against papacy
4. Took refuge in Holy Roman Empire
5. Died of Black Plague
B. Theory of Knowledge
1. Further development of thought of Duns Scotus
2. We can know only individual objects with certainty
3. Abstractions are not real, but merely names or terms, convenient mental
approximations
4. Thus, when dealing with abstractions, one can establish only probabilities,
not realities or
certainties
5. Consideration of such abstractions is useless, since it adds nothing to
knowledge of individual
things, which reason can comprehend directly
1. This has sometimes been taken as anti-intellectual, since it seems to
attack the
formation of general explanations
2. Actually, it was a needed correction in an age which dealt in abstract
generalities
rather than actual realities, promoting instead the study of
particular realities.
6. The existence of God cannot be proven by the existence of general
concepts in the human
mind (as Aquinas thought) or from the world order, or
from the nature of created things or
from the postulation of a necessary first
cause, or in any other way. These are all abstractions
and thus not real.
7. God is perfectly unknowable except by revelation.
8. This is a comprehensive and fundamental denial of the rational basis of
theology, human
relation with God, and the Church.
1. Ockham destroys the Thomistic synthesis of philosophy and theology
2. He bases religion on faith, claiming God is ultimately unknowable in
any logical
sense.
3. He insists on the complete omnipotence of God, not bound by logic or
knowable
through it.
4. He sees the individual not as a member of a comforting division of
medieval society,
but as an isolated individual.
5. He rejects all a priori arguments from authority (including the
Church's authority);
things are to be explained by specific individual causes
working in specific individual
cases,
and
these
are
directly
comprehensible without authority
6. All this prefigures Luther, who will base his religion on faith and
have a vivid feeling
of the isolation of the individual, and Calvin, who
emphasizes the absolute omnipotence
of God.
7. In many ways this is the birth of the empirical approach typical of the
scientific
method, breaking down the medieval reverence for Aristotle and
weakening the
unquestioned reliance on the authority of the Church.
9. Ockham's Razor: It is futile to postulate more entities than necessary. Or,
the simplest, most
direct explanation is to be preferred to those more complex and
requiring more things to be
taken on faith.
V. Mysticism and Lay Piety
A. Grows out of several trends
1. Growing distance between Church and common man
2. Duns Scotus and William of Ockham severing of relationship between
logical
philosophy and theological faith
B. Mysticism and lay piety: non-rational attempt to approach God, emphasizing
individual
realtionships with God, fostered by inner devotion and simple religiosity
of the common
worshipper (lay piety), rather than institutional worship (Church)
C. Examples:
1. Thomas a' Kempis, Imitation of Christ
2. Herard Groot's Brethern of the Common Life
a. lay men
b. no instituional vows
c. preach, teach, do charitable work
UNIT XII: THE CRISIS OF THE LATER MIDDLE AGES
A. Objective: The student should learn what disasters characterized the fourteenth century
and how they changed medieval civilization.
B. Reading: McKay Chapter 12
C. Define: Black Death, bubonic plague, Hundred Years' War, chivalry, Crecy, Poitiers, Joan
of Arc, parliament, House of Commons, vernacular literature, Dante, Babylonian Captivity,
Great Schism, Conciliar movement, Avignon, Jacquerie, flagellants.
1. What problems beset Europe in the period shortly before the appearance of the plague.
2. What portion of the European population died of the plague? What were the psychological
effects of the terrible disaster?
3. What effects did the Hundred Years' War have on France? On England?
4. What sorts of military developments undermined the military dominance of the noble class
during the Hundred Years' War?
5. What led to the decline in the prestige of the Church?
D. Chronological Outline
1337-1453
Hundred Years' War
1348
1309-1377
1378
Black Plague strikes Europe
Babylonian Captivity
Beginning of the Great Schism
Lecture: Medieval Cities and Universities
I. Origins of Medieval Cities
A. Survival of ancient cities
1. Many modern cities have ancient origins
2. Ancient cities decline during Early Middle Ages but do not disappear
a. Some trade
b. Specialized skills
c. Market centers
3. Cities do not fit into medieval concept of society well
B. Foundation of new towns
1. Great churches, monasteries
2. Nobles' castles and easily fortified points
3. Advantage positions for trade, agriculture
II. Development of cities in High Middle Ages
A. General revival of trade
B. Development of Fairs
1. Develop out of markets
2. Few and relativley infrequent, often annual
3. Peace of Fair usually guaranteed by king, great feudal lord, or high church
official
4. Local monopolies set aside
5. Rent or toll for participating
6. Much wholesale business
7. Beginings of international business law
a. Regulation of weights and measures
b. Regulation of payments, credit, guarantees
C. Commerce chiefly responsible for urban development
D. Commerce brings back money economy
E. Money economy undermines feudalism
III. Functioning of cities
A. Role of citizens (burghers)
1. Not noble, peasants, clergy: do not fit in society easily
2. Must provide for own protection
a. Charters--provide legal basis but no actual protection
b. High walls and fotifications
3. Must provide for own organization
a. Guilds often basis of organization
1. Association of merchants or craftsmen
2. Limit competition
3. Govern trade
a. Quality
b. Prices
c. Provides welfare for members
d. Training and entry into trade
1. Apprentice
2. Journeyman
3. Master
4. Master's frequently control city government
IV. Universities
A. Product of medieval cities
B. Develop in Italy and spread north
1. Origins in Islamic schools (Palermo) or Roman schools (Bologna)
2. Spread through France, England, Germany, and other regions
3. Pattern self after guilds
4. Students have great powers
a. Financial control
b. Shared guild membership
C. No campuses; scattered through community
D. No extracurricular activity
E. No government endowment or official funding
F. Courses of study
1. Preliminary study of the seven liberal arts: grammar, rhetoric, logic,
arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, music
2. Advanced studies: limited majors
a. Medicine
b. Theology
c. Canon Law
d. Civil Law
3. No tests in class; comprehensive men
G. Role of Latin
H. Relatively few universities and few students
I. Problems faced by students
J. Comparative roles of universities in medieval and contemporary society.
Lecture: The Fourteenth Century
I. Introduction
A. Situation in 1300: Europe strong, organized, and medieval culture at its height.
A. Feudal monarchies emerging into nation states
B. Church providing overall leadership for past two centuries
C. Medieval cities centers of growing prosperity
D. A culture moving forward confidently and vigorously
B. Situation in 1400: Europe threatened, disorganized, chaotic, having lost confidence in
itself.
II. Evolutionary changes that undermine Europe during the 14th century
A. Rise of cities and the money economy
1. Cities bring money back into common use
2. Money = power
3. Money is accumulated in the hands of the townspeople
4. Feudal aristocracy is relatively money poor
5. Power shifting away from feudal nobility to urban elites
B. Feudalism is dying
1. Feudalism was a success
a. It brought a reasonable amount of law and order
b. Law and order allows the development of more centralized, tightly organized
governments: the
beginnings of nation states
c. Kings and centralized government strip power from nobles
III. Specific changes that undermine Europe during the 14th century
A. Problems within the Church
1. Church as leader of Europe, 1100-1300
2. Church becomes bureaucratic, self-content, looses contact with common
worshippers. Looses earlier
flexibility and adaptability; is seen as a distant,
unconcerned bureuacracy.
3. Since the Church has become secure and dominant, it does not want change, but
society is bound
to change, since feudalism and town are forcing change.
B. Positive aspects of the Church (Covered these earlier)
1. Organization
2. Sts. Francis and Dominic
C. Negative aspects
1. Rise of heresy and response to heresy
a. Define heresy
b. Heresy rises because Church no longer satisfies emotional needs of
worshippers
c. Earlier heresies were answered by persuation and argumentation
d. As Establishment, Church now has option of use of force
e. Case studies
1. Albigensian Heresy and Albigensian Crusade
2. Inquisition
a. Secret witnesses
b. No confrontation or cross examination
c. Torture
f. Results: Heresy no surpressed; people allienated
2. Scandal and corruption: the case of Boniface VIII (1296-1303)
a. Rich, lawyer, establishment
b. Scandal of Celestine V
c. Boniface confronts change in the form of rising nation states
1. Kings of France and England wish to tax clergy
2. Boniface VIII threatens excommunication
3. Philip IV the Fair has pet clergy request taxes
4. Philip IV cuts off exports of AV and AR
5. Edward I denies justice to clergy
6. Boniface lets kings tax for defense of realm in emergency
7. New crisis: Philip IV arrest bishop for treason
8. Boniface VIII opposes Philip IV
9. Philip IV counterattacks with propaganda campaign
10. Philip IV's man kindnaps Pope, who dies shortly
11. No public outrage--church collapses.
3. Babylonian Captivity
a. After death of Boniface VIII, papacy to Avignon in southern France,
1305-1377.
4. Great Schism--40 years
D. Effects of all this: medieval people have lost their main source of comfort and belief
1. Age of faith
2. Church looked upon as the earthly manifestation of religion
3. Now the Church has become an insensitive, violent, corrupt bureaucracy controlled
by the King of
France or divided into quarrling factions
IV. 100 Years War: England vs. France
A. Origins
B. Fought largely in France
C. Military changes manifest for first time
1. Longbow at Crecy, Potiers, Agincourt
2. Crossbow
3. Halbert
4. Pike formations
5. Cannons
6. All of these are socially revolutionary, displacing traditional noblity and all of
organization of society
D. Periods of truce lead to mobs of soldiers
E. Misery of peasants lead to Jacqueries
F. War causes economic disruption throughout Europe.
V. Elsewhere
A. Germany: economic disruption, chronic and growing political division and weakness.
B. East Europe: Turks in south; Mongol Hoard in north.
VI. Other problems
A. Over-population
1. Population growth led to agricultural expansion to marginal lands
2. Now marginal lands collapsing
B. Droughts, long winters, repeated crop failures leave population in poor condition.
VII. Black Plague = Bubonic Plague
A. Origin in the East
B. Spread to Italy and through Europe
C. Read Boccaccio
D. Anecdotes about plague
E. Describe two forms
F. Number trick
G. Pattern of later outbreaks
H. Real cause: bacteria on fleas on Ratus Ratus
1. Ratus ratus vs. ratus norwegus
I. Medieval reaction
1. No understanding of real cause
a. Miasmal theory: ring around the rosey
b. Blame it on the Jews
c. God's punishment: flagellents
2. Effects
1. Depression and despair
a. Indulgence (in contrast to flagellents)
b. Question of all values
c. Preoccupation with morbid and macabre
d. Disorientation of society
e. Feeling of chronic insecurity and hopelessness
2. Economic effects
a. Through inheritance
b. Labor scarcity
J. Comparisons to modern world
1. Fear of the bomb.
2. Black Death on campus?
3. Fear of Aids.
VIII. Effects of the 14th century
A. Generally tramatic, but some groups come through better than others.
B. Look at late medieval reactions to the 14th century and late medieval life-styles next
time.
Lecture: Late Medieval Chivalry
I. Review catastrophies of 14th Century
A. Rise of cities and money
1. Benefits townmen
2. Damages nobles
B. Rise of Nation States
1. Kings grow great
2. Nobles loosing power
C. Crises of Church
1. Underminds one of the central institutions of Middle Ages
2. Engenders general anxiety
D. 100 Year's War
1. Disruption of France, England, and economic disruption further afield
E. New military developments
1. Rob nobility of real role
2. Slaughters many nobles
F. Threats from Turks, Mongols
1. Contributes to insecurity
G. Droughts, crop failures
1. Weakened population
H. Black Plague
1. Kills many
2. Disrupts society
3. Creates atmosphere of despair, desperation
II. Reactions of Catastrophies
A. Reactions differ with classes
B. Four classes of medieval society: Nobles, clergy, peasants, townspeople
C. Principal of action: a group will adapt to new conditions if it can see a way to adapt; if
it cannot, the
group is liable to retreat into a fantasy world in an attempt to deny the
threat.
D. Set aside the noble to last.
E. Clergy
1. Gravely embarassed
2. React by becoming more rigid, more judgmental, more protective of status and
priviledge
3. Ultimately, helps contribute to coming of tthe Reformation
F. Peasants
1. Conditions improve!
a. Inheritance
b. Scarcity of labor
c. Virtual disappearance of serfdom in western Europe
G. Townpeople
1. Inheritances lead
a. to increased capital accumulations for business
b. increased markets
2. Economic prosperity of cities leads to quick recovery
H. Nobles
1. No hope
2. Crushed from all sides, obsolete, purposeless
3. Retreat into fantasy world they create out of preexisting chivalry
III. Chivalry: Origins and original character
A. Definition: Set of attitudes and values held by nobles that govern military and daily
lives.
B. Emphasizes honor, galantry, loyalty, courtly love, generosity
C. Manifest in
1. Education and training of knight
a. Stages of page and squire to knighthood
b. Nobility imitating guild organization!
2. Conduct in battle
a. Honoring Peace of God
b. Not taking advantage of weak and poor
3. Tournaments
a. At first, to sharpen skills
4. Chivalric Love
a. Courtesy toward women
b. Troubadours
1. Wandering singers, often noble, bringing latest songs, styles, gossip-medieval MTV
2. Romance="in the southern style"--style of the Troubadours
3. Early non-Latin secular literary form
IV. Late medieval deformation of Chivalry
A. Denial of military obsolence (rather than adaption to change)
1. Tournaments deform into the end rather than a means
a. Specialization of armor
b. Knights how fight only in Tournaments
c. Tournaments as means of raising ransom money
2. Artificial military distinctions substitute for real achievements
1. heraldry degenerates from means of identification to fantasy world of snobbism
2. Order of Chivalry substitute for achievements on field
B. Chivalric love's later development
a. Abstraction and idealization carried to grotesque ends: unspoken love from
afar, secret
idealization.
b. Strange quests to prove love.
c. Ocassionally used by women to control men
d. Far more often, keeps women powerless
C. Development of elaborate artificial ceremonies, titles, special officies, chivalric vows,
romantic fantasy
literature as substitute for the interacting in the real world.
V. Case Study: Late Medieval Chivalry meets the real world: Louis XI vs. Charles the Bold
A. Over simplifying a long and complex story.
B. Chief characters:
1. Philip the Good, Charles the Bold
a. Successive Dukes of Burgundy
b. Heavily committed to dream world of late medieval chivalry
c. Want Burgundy to evolve into independent kingdom
2. Louis XI "The Universal Spider" 1461-1483
a. Physical character
b. "Modern"
1. Advocate of nation state ruled by absolute monarch governing by divine
right
2. Seeks to unite France under royal leadership
3. Prefers diplomacy and bribery to war
4. Fills government with able, low-born
5. Sympathy and aid to townspeople (burgeois)
6. Micromanagment of government; inspection travels.
7. Thinks chivalry is silly.
C. Long conflict over status of Burgundy
1. Philip the Good leads aristocratic reaction against Louis XI early in reign.
2. Louis IX buys off aristocrats with promises, which he does not fulfill.
3. Philip the Good dies, leaving Burgundy to Charles the Bold.
4. Charles tries to make Burgundy in effect independent.
5. Louis excites Charles' internal enemies within Burgundy.
6. Louis buys a war between Burgundy and the Swiss
a. Swiss have some outstanding issues with Charles.
b. Swiss need money for conflict with Austria
c. Louis buys their cooperation
d. Swiss are not feudalized, not dominated by chivalric
nobility
e. Swiss are militarily modern: pike men.
f. Swiss pike men decimate Burgundian nobility and kill Charles the Bold
7. Louis takes over Burgundy and annexes several other areas at the same time.
UNIT XIII: RENAISSANCE
A. Objective: Understand what the Renaissance was, how it came about, and how it changed
Europe.
B. Reading: McKay Chapter 13
C. Define:
Renaissance, Florence, secularism, humanism, Botticelli, Michelangelo,
Castiglione, Machiavelli, Erasmus, Venice, Louis XI "The Spider King", Tudors, Henry VII,
Isabella and Ferdinand, inquisition
1. Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy?
2. What were the characteristics of the Renaissance?
3. What was the status of the artist during the Renaissance?
4. What was the effect of the development of printing?
5. How did the status of women change during the Renaissance?
6. How did the Renaissance in the north differ from the Italian
Renaissance?
D. Chronological Outline
c. 1300-1500
Italian Renaissance
c. 1500-1600
Northern Renaissance
Lecture: Renaissance
I. Background: Northern Europe 1300-1500: Disasters and change lead to decline and death
of Medieval culture.
II. Meantime in Italy: Renaissance
A. Renaissance means Rebirth
B. Reaction against horrors of Late Middle Ages and conscious turning away from
medieval values toward
the values of the Greco-Roman world.
C. Why Italy?
1. Survival of ancient urbanization and Roman influences and models.
2. Wealth accumulated in trade with Byzantine and Islamic worlds.
3. Learning from Byzantine and Islamic worlds strong here.
4. Urban and commerical development strongest here.
D. This is when the Middle Ages gets its name.
III. Comparison between Renaissance, Middle Ages, and Greco-Roman world.
Greco-Roman
Middle Ages
Renaissance
Modern
________________________________________________________________
Urban
Rural
Urban
Urban
(Example: Florence, Pisa, Genoa, etc.)
Individualism
Corporate
Individualism
Individualism
(Example: Cellini's adventures)
Secular
Religious
Secular
Secular
(Example: Boccaccio's stories; Lorenzo Valla)
Humanism
Spiritualism
Humanism
Humanism
(Example: Leon Baptista Alberti and ideal of Renaissance Man)
E. Definitions:
1. Secular: indifference to or rejection of relgion as the guiding influence of life
2. Humanism: a way of life centered on human interests and values, and asserts that
the dignity and
worth of human life is discoverable through reason.
a. Hence the phrase "secular humanism."
b. For the Renaissance, humanism is manifest in the study of the literature, art,
and architecture of
the ancient world, which they believed reflected the same values
they now sought to follow.
IV. Some Renaissance personalities to illustrate these points
A. That we do it through personalities illustrates individuality
B. Literature:
1. Dante (1265-1321)
1. Divine Comedy
2. Mixture of medieval and Renaissance
3. Trip through hell, pergatory, and Paradise
4. Renaissance characteristics: individualism, relative secularism, urban, classical
2. Petrarch (1304-1377)
1. Lyric poems
2. Classical scholarship
3. Boccaccio (1313-1374)
1. Decameron
C. Art
1. Giotto (early 14th century)
1. New attempt to create perspective, movement, naturalism, chiarsuro
2. Painting and architecture
2. Donatello (early 15th century)
1. Sculpture
2. Classical influence
3. Study of anatomy
3. da Vinci (late 15th-early 16th centuries)
1. Breadth of learning: painting, anatomy, physiology, physics, biology,
architecture, mechanics,
music.
4. Michelangelo (late 15th-early 16th centuries)
1. Sculpture, painting
2. Sistine Chapel, Dome of St. Peter's
D. Politics
1. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)
2. of Florence
3. Political scientist and practical politician
4. Il Principe, Discorsi sopre la prima deca di Tito Livio
5. Medieval political theory
1. Based on divine principles and institutions, such as papacy and Holy Roman
Empire.
6. Machiavelli's politics
1. Pragmatic search for natural principles rooted in human nature.
2. Subordinates ethics to expediency, morality to success.
V. Spread of Renaissance
A. Follows course of earlier spread of universities, trade, from south to north.
B. Northern Renaissance starts later, but lasts longer.
C. A couple of people of the northern Renaissance: Johann Gutenberg, William
Shakespeare, Christopher
Columbus.
SAMPLE EXAM III
This sample exam covers Units IX-XIII. This is a typical exam, but it certainly does not
contain all or even the majority of possible questions. It is meant to be a means of selftesting. If you can take this exam and do well, you probably can do well on the actual exam,
but merely answering the questions in this exam is by no means sufficient preparation for
taking the actual exam. I will not provide anwers to these questions for you. Do so from
the lectures and the book. It would be worthwhile to check you answers with other students
in the course.
History 101: Exam 3
Name:________________________
Section I: Indicate the best answer on the answer sheet.
1. Which of the following was not a part of feudal relations?
l. homage.
2. peasants.
3. fealty.
4. fiefs.
5. vassals.
2. A medieval association of people engaged in a particular business or craft
was called
l. a labor union.
2. feudalism.
3. city government.
4. the papacy.
5. a guild.
3. Which of the following best describes feudalism?
1. a guild.
2. a parliamentary government.
3. a theocracy.
4. an absolute monarchy.
5. a decentralized government based on the noble class.
4. Who was the Holy Roman Emperor?
1. the Pope
2. the Byzantine Emperor
3. the King of England
4. the King of Germany
5. the Chief General of the Pope's army
5. When a secular ruler installs a clergyman in his offices, it is called
l. feudalism
2. papal prerogative
3. lay investiture
4. fealty
5. homage
6. Why was William the Conqueror important in the history of England?
1. He won the Investiture Controversy and gained the title of Holy Roman Emperor.
2. He developed exceptional strong and well-organized feudalism in England.
3. He converted Britain to Christianity.
4. He signed the Magna Carta.
5. He started the Crusades.
7. Which of the following were involved in the Investiture Controversy?
1. The King of England and the Archbishop of Cantebury.
2. The Kings of England and France.
3. The Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope.
4. The King of England and his chief vassals.
5. The King of France and the Duke of Burgundy.
8. Which of the following was not true of medieval cities?
l. Cities and the citizens of cities did not fit easily into the medieval
division of people into nobles, clergy, and peasants.
2. Cities were directly governed by the king of the country where they were located.
3. Business in cities was usually organized around guilds.
4. Periodic conventions of medieval businessmen held at medieval cities were called
guilds.
5. Cities were largely responsible for bring money back into general use during the Middle
Ages.
9. Which of the following was not a function of medieval guilds?
l. Regulation of training and entrance to the guild.
2. Providing welfare for widows, orphans, and aged guild members.
3. Encouragement of competition.
4. Establishment of standards of quality.
5. Restriction of business to guild members.
10. Medieval universities modeled their organization on
l. the Papacy.
2. guilds.
3. the Holy Roman Empire.
4. the English Parliament.
5. Chivalry.
11. The power of the Church became dominant about 1100 when
l. it established the Inquisition.
2. the Great Schism occurred.
3. the Crusades ended.
4. it led the Norman Conquest.
5. it won the Investiture Controversy.
12. What was new about the religious orders established by Dominic and Francis?
l. they were responsible directly to the Pope.
2. they were democratically organized.
3. they labored in society rather than retreated into isolation.
4. they admitted both men and women.
5. they were responsible directly to the king rather than the Pope.
13. All of the following are true about the Gothic style except
l. it replaced the Romanesque style.
2. it utilized vast areas of stained glass.
3. it used support systems called "flying buttresses."
4. it placed great emphasis on verticles.
5. it reflected a defensive attitude which viewed the outside world as
basically hostile.
14. The chief announced purpose of the Crusades (not to be confused with the private
purposes of some of the Crusaders) was
l. to establish trade links with the Byzantines and Moslems.
2. loot, destroy, and have a good time.
3. conquer the Holy Lands in the name of Christianity.
4. conquer the Byzantine Empire.
5. strengthen the Holy Roman Empire
15. In the The Hundred Years' War, the kings of England attempted to conquer
l. Germany.
2. France.
3. Scotland.
4. the Moslems.
5. Spain.
16. Which of the following is true of the Black Plague?
l. Its effects were felt only for a few years.
2. It weakened the peasants and strengthened the nobility.
3. It probably killed at least a quarter of the population of Europe in the
middle of the fourteenth century.
4. It is now easily curable and no longer a danger.
5. Modern medicine makes it impossible for an epidemic to strike today the
way the Black Plague did during the Middle Ages.
17. During the High and Late Middle Ages, why did the Church call for crusades within
Europe and establish the Inquisition?
1. in an attempt to unite Europe into a single kingdom under the Holy Roman Emperor.
2. in an attempt to unite Europe into a single kingdom under the Pope.
3. to fight the growth of Islam in Europe.
4. to fight the growth of heresy in Europe.
5. as an emotional reaction to the disasters of the fourteenth century.
18. What was chivalry?
1. medieval nobles' values and rules of behavior that developed into a
virtual make-believe world during the late Middle Ages.
2. the rules governing the behavior of guild members.
3. the governmental system of medieval cities.
4. the chief opponent of the Crusaders.
5. the name of the religious order founded by Francis.
19. People at the time felt the Renaissance was
1. a break with the immediate medieval past and a rebirth of ancient values.
2. a religious movement.
3. a simple continuation of the past.
4. a revolt against the Church.
5. an attempt to unite Italy.
20. Free Point! Have a good break!
Section III: Short answer. Identify in the context of this section of the course (who, what,
where, when, why, how) and explain the significance of five of the following.
William the Conqueror, Guild, Renaissance, Holy Roman Empire, feudalism, Gregory VII,
Avignon, university